S K 

405 



NSERVATION LAWS 
OF MARYLAND 



RELATING TO 

OYSTERS, FISH, CRABS, CLAMS, TERRAPIN, 

WILD FOWL, BIRDS, GAME AND 

FUR-BEARING ANIMALS. 




PUBLISHED 1916 

BY 

CONSERVATION COMMISSION 

OF MARYLAND 




Glass C> H ¥-06 
Book -fl tf* r . 



45t^ 



CONSERVATION LAWS 
OF MARYLAND 



RELATING TO 

OYSTERS, FISH, CRABS, CLAMS, TERRAPIN, 

WILD FOWL, BIRDS, GAME AND 

FUR-BEARING ANIMALS. 




COMPILED 1916 BY 

W. THOMAS KEMP, 

CHAIRMAN CONSERVATION COMMISSION 



OF MARYLAND 



CONSERVATION COMMISSION 
OF MARYLAND 






COMMISSIONERS 

W. THOMAS KEMP, CHAIRMAN 
WILLIAM H. KILLIAN, 
J. EDWARD WHITE. 

STAFF 

SWEPSON EARLE, ENGINEER 
THOMAS C. B. HOWARD, COMMANDER 
E. LEE LeCOMPTE, GAME WARDEN 



OFFICE 

512 MUNSEY BUILDING 

BALTIMORE, MD. 



P. of D. 
FEB 27 1917 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



NOTE. — This Edition contains the general laws of Maryland now in 
force (including Acts of 1916) relating to Oysters, Fish, Crabs, Clams, 
Terrapin, Wild Fowl, Birds, Game and Fur-Bearing Animals. Some laws 
have been epitomized in whole or in part, hut in such cases, Code refer- 
ences are given. Local laws are not included in this Edition, except 
county licenses on pages 114-5 hereof. 



Page 
Part I — Act Creating Conservation Commission 

of Maryland 5 

Part II — Oysters; General Legislation 10 

Tonging 10 

Culling 13 

Time for Taking Oysters 17 

Dredging 19 

Conservation Fund 23 

State Fishery Force 24 

Oyster Inspectors 30 

Packers and Commission Merchants' 

Licenses 37 

Part III — Oyster Culture 40 

Part IV — Cultivation Reserved Areas 52 

Part V — Concurrent Law, Maryland and Virginia, 

Relating to Potomac River 58 

Part VI — Fish and Fisheries 64 

Head of Bay 64 

Patapsco 66 

Severn 66 

Patuxent 66 

Potomac 69 

Other Rivers 73 

Trout and Other Fish 74 

Chesapeake Bay 79 



Page 

Part VII — Crabs and Clams 84 

State-wide Laws 84 

Somerset County Crab Law 86 

Somerset County Clam Law 87 

Part VIII — Terrapin 90 

Part IX — Wild Fowl, Birds and Game 92 

Game Warden and Deputies 108 

County Gunning Licenses 114 

List of Open Seasons for State 116 

Index 117 



Part I— ACT CREATING CONSERVATION COM- 
MISSION OF MARYLAND. 

(Acts 1916, Chapter 682.) 
Annotated Code of Maryland, Article 19-A. 

1. The Conservation Commission of Maryland is hereby 
created and established. The said Commission shall con- 
sist of three members, citizens and residents of this State, 
all of whom shall be men specially informed in one or more 
of the following subjects: oysters, clams, fish, crabs, ter- 
rapin, wild fowl, birds, game and fur-bearing animals. 
The members of the Commission shall be appointed by the 
Governor, and he shall designate one of said members to 
act as Chairman of the Commission. The term of the 
members of the Commission shall be four years from the 
first Monday in June succeeding their appointment. The 
Governor shall have power of removal for cause and he 
shall fill vacancies in the Commission however occurring. 
In all cases the decision of a majority of the members 
of the Commission shall be binding. The salary of each 
Commissioner shall be $3,000 a year, and he shall be en- 
titled to receive in addition thereto the necessary traveling 
expenses and disbursements incurred by him in the dis- 
charge of his official duties. The Commission shall at the 
time of its organization, and from time to time thereafter, 
adopt such by-laws and rules of procedure for the conduct 
of its business as it may deem necessary. 

2. The Commission shall establish and maintain an 
office where its meetings may be held, and where all books, 
records, charts and other official papers and documents re- 
lating to the work of the Commission shall be kept. The 
Commission shall employ a chief clerk at an annual salary 
not exceeding $1,500, a deputy clerk at an annual salary 
not exceeding $1,200, and, with the approval of the Gov- 
ernor, such other employees as the Commission may deem 
necessary. 



6 

3. The Commission shall have general supervisory 
power, regulation and control over the following natural 
resources of the State, viz: (1) oysters and clams; (2) fish, 
crabs and terrapin; (3) wild fowl, birds, game and fur- 
bearing animals. The Commission shall be charged with 
the execution of all laws now in force or hereafter enacted 
relating to any of the above subjects. 

4. The Commission shall appoint the following staff offi- 
cers, who shall conduct the work of their respective depart- 
ments under the authority and supervision of the Com- 
mission : 

(1) Engineer, at an annual salary not exceeding $3,000, 
who shall have had experience in scientific and practical 
work relating to fish and shell fish. He shall have charge 
of surveying and marking natural oyster bars, reserved 
areas, leased bottoms, crabbing grounds, clam grounds, fish 
hatcheries, and any other areas set apart by the Com- 
mission for special purposes. He shall also have imme- 
diate charge of the experimental work conducted by the 
Commission in the propagation of oysters, fish and crabs. 
He shall also be allowed necessary traveling expenses and 
disbursements incurred in the discharge of his official 
duties, not to exceed $500 per annum. 

(2) Commander of the State Fishery Force, at an 
annual salary not exceeding $2,000, who shall have charge 
of all boats now or hereafter composing the State Fishery 
Force or Oyster Navy. The fleet under his command shall 
be charged with the execution of the laws relating to 
oysters, clams, fish, crabs, terrapin, wild ducks, wild 
geese and all other water game and fur-bearing animals. 
The Commission shall also appoint the deputy-commanders 
of the boats of the State Fishery Force, and the commander 
and deputy-commanders shall appoint their respective 
crews. The salaries of the deputy-commanders and crews 
shall be those now or hereafter provided by law. 

(3) State Game Warden, at such annual salary as may 
now or hereafter be fixed by law, who shall also be allowed 
his necessary traveling expenses and disbursements in the 



discharge of his official duties. The Commission shall ap- 
point and issue commissions to such deputy game wardens 
as may be designated to it by the State Game Warden, 
and the Commission may revoke and annul any such ap- 
pointment at its pleasure. The duties and powers of the 
State Game Warden and of the deputy game wardens shall 
be those now or hereafter prescribed by law, and they 
shall report to the Conservation Commission whenever 
required. 

5. The Commission shall take over and exercise all of 
the respective functions, discretions, powers and duties 
heretofore exercised by the Commissioners of Fisheries, the 
Board of Shell Fish Commissioners, the State Conservation 
Bureau and the Commander of the State Fishery Force 
and the State Game Warden, and to that end the records, 
charts, papers, documents and all other papers and prop- 
erty of said boards and officers, or any of them, shall be 
transferred to and kept in the office of the Conservation 
Commission of Maryland. The following offices are hereby 
abolished, viz : The Commissioners of Fisheries, the Board 
of Shell Fish Commissioners and the State Conservation 
Bureau. The Commander of the State Fishery Force and 
the State Game Warden are placed upon the staff of the 
Commission as hereinbefore provided. 

6. The Commission shall adopt such measures as it may 
deem expedient to promote and encourage the leasing of 
the barren bottoms of the State for purposes of oyster cul- 
ture under the present or future laws of the State, and the 
Commission shall take such steps as it can to stimulate an 
interest in private planting thereon. 

7. The Commission shall have charge of the operation 
and cultivation and replenishing of reserved areas upon 
the depleted natural bars of the State, and it shall have 
and exercise all of the discretion heretofore vested in the 
Commander of the State Fishery Force as to setting aside 
or reopening any of the depleted areas reserved for oyster 
conservation. 



8 

8. The Commission shall have control over the inspec- 
tion of oysters, fish or crabs wherever caught or sold in the 
State of Maryland and of the enforcement of the cull laws 
and other protective measures. They shall see that all 
laws relating to licenses and inspections are enforced ; and 
the general measurers and inspectors of oysters and the 
special inspectors shall be appointed by the Commission 
and shall report to it whenever required. 

9. The funds now known as the "Oyster Fund," the 
' ' Oyster Conservation Fund, ' ' and the ' ' Fund for the Con- 
servation of Natural Oyster Bars, ' ' are hereby consolidated 
into a fund to be known as the "Conservation Fund," 
and the moneys now paid or which would be hereafter pay- 
able into the State Treasury to the credit of any of said 
funds, including all revenue from oyster culture, shall be 
placed in the "Conservation Fund" and shall be under 
the exclusive control of the Commission, and shall be drawn 
upon for the payment of office rent and supplies, for 
salaries and expenses of members of the Commission, its 
staff and employees, for equipment and maintenance of 
the State Fishery Force, and for any other expenses in- 
curred by the Commission in the propagation, cultivation 
and protection of the natural resources of the State above 
enumerated, the surplus, if any at the end of the fiscal year 
fixed by the Commission, to become a part of the general 
funds of the State Treasury, first reserving, however, a 
balance of ten thousand dollars at the end of each year to 
be applied by the Commission to its current expenses for 
the ensuing year. The fund now known as the "State 
Game Protection Fund," shall be placed under the super- 
vision and control of the Commission, but the moneys in 
said fund shall be used solely for the salaries, and expenses 
of the State Game Warden and his subordinates, and for 
the protection and propagation of birds and game of all 
kinds, the Commission to make an equitable distribution of 
said fund among the counties of the State, in proportion 
to the amounts contributed to said fund by the respective 
counties. 



9 

10. The Commission is empowered to provide for the 
vessels of the State Fishery Force such arms, ammunition 
and equipment as may be required, and the Commission 
may from time to time make such repairs and additions 
to the vessels of the force as may in its discretion be 
necessary for the efficiency of the force, provided that all 
moneys expended by the Commission for such purposes 
shall be paid out of the Conservation Fund under its con- 
trol, unless other funds are specially appropriated there- 
for by the General Assembly. 

11. It shall be the duty of the Commission, on or before 
the second Monday in January in each year, to prepare 
and present to the Governor of the State a printed report 
showing the operations of the Commission during the pre- 
ceding year, in which report shall be plainly set forth the 
amounts of revenue derived from the several industries 
under the supervision of the Commission, and also the 
amounts of money expended by the Commission and for 
what purpose. It shall be the duty of the Commission to 
recommend from time to time such further legislation as 
it may deem advisable. 

12. The main object of this Article being to centralize 
and vest in the Conservation Commission entire control 
of the above mentioned natural resources of the State, it 
is hereby declared to be the intent of this Act that the 
said Commission shall supersede the former boards and 
officers to whom the administration of the law relating 
to such resources respectively has heretofore been en- 
trusted. In case any section or provision of this Act shall 
be held unconstitutional or invalid, the same shall not be 
held to affect any other section or provision of this Act. 



10 



Part II— OYSTEES; GENERAL LEGISLATION. 

(Code, Article 72.) 
TONGING. 

1. Tonging License. Any resident of this State de- 
siring to catch oysters with rakes or tongs, for sale, in any 
of the waters of this State shall first obtain by application 
to the clerk of the circuit court for the county wherein 
he may reside a separate license for every person to be em- 
ployed on such boat, and such license shall have effect 
from the first day of September, in the year which it may 
have been obtained, to the twenty-fifth day of April, in- 
clusive, next succeeding; provided, that such license shall 
not authorize the taking or catching of oysters in any 
creek, cove, river, inlet, bay or sound within the limit of 
any county other than that wherein the license shall have 
been granted; and that the boundaries of the counties on 
navigable waters shall be strictly construed so as not to 
permit the residents of either county to take or catch 
oysters beyond the middle of the dividing channel; pro- 
vided, that nothing in this section shall be so construed 
as to prevent the citizens of Queen Anne 's and Kent Coun- 
ties from using the waters of Chester River in common, or 
the citizens of Dorchester and Wicomico Counties from 
using the waters of Nanticoke River in common, or the 
citizens of Queen Anne's and Talbot Counties from using 
the waters of the Wye River and the mouth thereof in 
common, or the citizens of Dorchester and Talbot Coun- 
ties from using the waters of the Choptank River in com- 
mon; provided, however, that the county commissioners 
shall be authorized to give special permission to any woman 
who has no visible means of support to take and catch 
oysters without license. 

2. Contents of License and Disposition of Fees. 
Each and every license issued in conformity to the pro- 
visions of Section 1 of this Article shall state the name, 
color, age and residence of the person to whom the license 



11 

is to be granted, the number thereof and the county in 
which the same is to be used; and every applicant for 
such license shall pay to the clerk of the circuit court 
when such license may be granted, and before the issuing 
and delivery of the same, three and one-half dollars, the 
clerk to receive twenty-five cents for each and every such 
license as a fee for issuing the same, including administer- 
ing the oath when required. Two-thirds of the amount re- 
ceived for such license shall be paid by the clerk to the 
school commissioners for the use of the public schools in 
the respective counties where such licenses are issued, and 
of this amount the portion received from white tongers to 
go to the white schools, and the portion received from the 
colored tongers to go to the colored schools, and the re- 
maining one-third to be paid over by the clerk to the 
Comptroller of the State Treasury, to be credited to the 
oyster fund. And one-third of the amount received from 
any tonging license in any county in this State shall be paid 
by the clerk of the circuit court of the county when re- 
ceived, to the Comptroller of the Treasury, to be credited 
to the oyster fund, any provision of any public local law 
or public general law to the contrary notwithstanding. 

3. Oath Required. Every applicant for license as 
aforesaid shall be required to make oath or affirmation be- 
fore the clerk authorized to issue the same, or some jus- 
tice of the peace, on whose certificate of the taking of such 
oath or affirmation the clerk shall issue said license; that 
the facts set forth therein are strictly true; that he has 
been a bona fide resident of the county for twelve months 
next preceding his application for said license; that he 
desires and intends to use said license in the county in 
which he resides or the waters used in common, as provided 
in this article, and that he will comply with and obey all 
laws of this State regulating the taking or catching of 
oysters. 

4. Issuance and Expiration of Licenses. The Comp- 
troller of the Treasury shall cause to be printed and de- 
livered to the clerks of the circuit courts for the several 
counties the requisite number of such blank licenses and 



12 

take receipts for the same as for other licenses furnished; 
and said clerks shall, on the first Monday of March and 
December of each year, return to the Comptroller a list 
and account of such licenses issued by them, and at the 
end of each tonging season shall return all unused licenses 
to him and shall pay over to the Comptroller one-third 
of the amount received by them for such licenses, which 
amount the said Comptroller shall place to the credit of 
the oyster fund; and no license to take or catch oysters 
with rakes or tongs shall be used on any boat or vessel 
which is licensed to take or catch oysters with scoop, drag, 
dredge or any similar instrument during the season for 
which such boat or vessel is licensed ; and all licenses shall 
expire at the end of the season. 

5. Penalty. If any person shall take oysters with 
rakes or tongs, for sale, without first having obtained a 
license as required by the preceding sections of this article, 
he shall, upon conviction thereof before a justice of the 
peace for the county wherein the offense has been committed, 
be fined not less than twenty nor more than one hundred 
dollars, and stand committed to the county jail till all costs 
and fines are paid; and in any such case the boat or 
vessel used by him shall be forfeited, and may be con- 
demned, in the discretion of the judge or justice of the 
peace, in the manner provided in Section 25. All persons 
taking or catching oysters under the provisions of this 
article shall exhibit their authority for so doing when 
required by any officer of the oyster police force, or other 
officers of the State. 

6. What Tonging Devices Permitted in Certain 
Waters. It shall be unlawful for any person or persons 
who have obtained a license to take or catch oysters with 
rakes or tongs to take or catch oysters in the waters of 
Queen Anne's, Kent, Talbot, Anne Arundel and Dor- 
chester Counties, or within one and a half miles of Sandy 
Point, Hackett's Point, Tolley's Point, Thomas' Point, Hol- 
land's Island Bar and Three Sisters and Holland's Point 
Bar with any implement or device other than ordinary 
rakes and tongs with wooden shafts, to be used entirely by 



13 

hand, and without any ropes or hoisting gear whatever. 
Any person or persons violating any one of the provisions 
of this section shall be liable to the penalties prescribed 
in the preceding section for taking oysters with rakes 
or tongs without license; and the waters within one and 
a half miles of Sandy Point, Hackett's Point, Tolley's 
Point, Thomas' Point, Holland's Island Bar and Three 
Sisters and Holland's Point Bar shall be held and con- 
sidered to be within the limits of Anne Arundel County 
for the purpose of this section and article. 

7. What Tonging Devices Permitted in Patuxent 
River, It shall be unlawful for any person or persons who 
have obtained a license to take or catch oysters in the 
waters of the Patuxent River above or north of a line 
drawn from the north side of Kourkles Creek in St. 
Mary's County to the southeast side of the mouth of Hun- 
gerford Creek in Calvert County, with any implement or 
device other than ordinary rakes and tongs with wooden 
shafts, to be used entirely by hand, and without any ropes 
or hoisting gear whatever. Any person or persons viola- 
ting any one of the provisions of this section shall be 
liable to the penalties prescribed in Section 5 for taking 
oysters with rakes and tongs without license. 

CULLING. 

8. Culling of Oysters. All oysters taken from any 
of the waters of this State, either with scoops, dredges or 
any similar instruments, or tongs or rakes, shall be culled 
upon their natural bed or bar whence taken ; and all shells 
shall be returned to the bed or bar from which they were 
taken ; and all oysters whose shells measure less than two 
and; one-half inches in length, measuring from hinge to 
mouth, shall be included in said culling and replaced upon 
said bed or bar as taken ; and the culling of oysters taken 
as aforesaid required by this section shall be actually 
made and completed before such oysters are thrown or de- 
posited in the hold or bottom of any such canoe or boat 
or vessel aforesaid. 



14 

9. Undersized Oysters. Any person, who shall have 
oysters in his possession which contain more than five per 
cent, of shells, and oysters less than two and one-half 
inches from hinge to mouth, which for the purpose of this 
article are declared to be unmerchantable oysters, shall 
be guilty of a misdemeanor; and in ascertaining such per- 
centage the officers of the oyster police force and the 
measurers and inspectors are hereby authorized and 
directed to select such amount of oysters from any pile, 
hold, bin, house or other place as he may think proper 
and to require the same to be culled and disposed of, as 
provided in Section 11 of this article; and any person 
violating any of the provisions of this section shall be 
subject to the penalties and fines provided in Section 11 
of this article, in precisely the same manner as if he were 
a captain of a boat. 

10. Prohibiting Shipment of Undersized Oysters 
Out of State — Penalty. It shall be unlawful for any 
person to transport, or attempt to transport, outside of this 
State, for any purpose whatsoever, unmerchantable oysters, 
as declared in the preceding section of this article, whether 
the unmerchantable oysters be taken from or caught on the 
natural bars or beds of this State, or from private beds 
and lots in this State ; and any violation of the provisions 
of this section shall be deemed a misdemeanor, and the 
captain or person in charge of any boat or vessel used in 
violation of the same shall, upon conviction of violating 
the provisions of this section before any justice of the 
peace or court of competent jurisdiction, be sentenced to 
the House of Correction for a period of not less than 
three months nor more than six months, and the boat or 
vessel so used shall be forfeited, but shall be released upon 
the payment of a fine not less than $100 and not more 
than $300, and the cargo of such vessel shall be confiscated 
to the State and shall be distributed under the supervision 
of the commander or some deputy commander, or general 
oyster inspector of the State Fishery Force, upon the nat- 
ural rocks and bars. 



15 

11. Inspection Required Before Sale; Undersized 
Oysters to be Returned to Bar Where Taken. It shall 
be unlawful for any packer, commission man or other per- 
son to purchase or receive any cargo, or any part of a 
cargo, of oysters unless a general inspector, measurer or 
special inspector shall be present, and said inspector or 
measurer shall cause to be culled any portion or all of the 
cargo necessary to determine the percentage of culls in 
said cargo, and if the said percentage shall be more than 
five per cent, of unmerchantable oysters of the portion of 
cargo so measured, then the said cargo shall be deemed to 
be unculled, and the captain, master or person in charge 
of such oysters shall be required to cull the whole cargo, 
and, in case said cargo contains more than five per cent, 
of unmerchantable oysters, be fined the sum of twenty-five 
dollars, and in addition to that the sum of six cents per 
bushel for the entire cargo, including all shells and oysters, 
large and small, in his or their possession or charge, and 
also a further fine of one additional cent per bushel on 
the entire cargo for each additional one per cent, of un- 
merchantable oysters which said cargo may be found to 
contain; and the inspector or measurer, after ascertaining 
the quantity of unmerchantable oysters so culled out, shall 
give the captain or other person in charge of said vessel 
a certificate showing the number of bushels of such un- 
merchantable oysters, and said captain or other person 
in charge shall return the said unmerchantable oysters so 
culled out and scatter them on the ground or rocks whence 
taken, under the direction of the deputy commander of 
the oyster police boat on the beat ; and upon such delivery 
and scattering, the deputy commander or other person in 
charge of the oyster police boat shall endorse the said 
certificate as to the number of unmerchantable oysters so 
scattered, which certificate shall entitle the captain, his 
assignee, or any other person entitled thereto to receive 
the sum of ten cents per bushel for each bushel of unmer- 
chantable oysters so disposed of and scattered; and the 
Comptroller of the Treasury shall, upon presentation of 
such certificate so endorsed, draw his warrant on the oyster 
fund' in favor of the party entitled to the same for the 



16 

amount therein specified. The fine of twenty-five dollars 
and the per bushel rate fine herein mentioned to be re- 
covered on conviction before a justice of the! peace or a 
court of competent jurisdiction, and in the event that the 
party who has thus violated the provisions of this article 
be supposed to be financially irresponsible, the officer pre- 
ferring the charge shall demand of the purchaser of the 
cargo to withhold and pay over to the proper authority 
such amount, and if said purchaser shall refuse or fail 
to do so, the amount shall be recovered from him by 
writ of fieri facias on the judgment obtained against the 
party who has so violated the law. (Form of certificate 
omitted, see Code.) 

12. Vessel to Eemain at Wharf Until Inspection 
Completed. It shall be the duty of the captain or other 
person in charge of any vessel from which oysters are 
being taken, as provided in Section 11 of this article, to 
keep said vessel at the wharf or other place of delivery 
until the inspector of oysters shall have inspected the 
oysters dumped on deck, as provided for in the preceding 
section, and give a certificate in form stated. (See Code.) 

And any violation of this section by any captain or other 
person in charge of any vessel shall be a misdemeanor, 
and shall be fined the sum of one hundred dollars for every 
such offense. 

13. Evasion of Inspection; Time for Delivery of 
Oysters; Penalties. Any packer, commission man, boat- 
man or other person who shall conspire or agree with any 
other person to evade any of the provisions of this article, 
or shall connive at or participate in such violation, shall 
be guilty of a misdemeanor. It shall be unlawful for any 
captain or other person in charge of a vessel to discharge 
his oysters, or for any packing house or any other person 
to receive oysters between the hours of 8 o'clock P. M. 
and 6 o'clock A. M. Any violation of this section shall 
be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than 
one hundred dollars and not more than five hundred dol- 
lars for each offense on conviction before a court of com- 
petent jurisdiction; one-half of said fine to go to the in- 



17 

former and the other one-half to the Comptroller to be 
placed to the credit of the oyster fund, unless the informer 
be an officer of the State Fishery Force. And the gen- 
eral inspectors and measurers or special inspectors shall 
be on duty continuously during the working or delivery 
hours, viz: from 6 A. M. to 8 P. M. 

14. Inspector's Duties and Powers. It shall be the 
duty of general measurers and inspectors of oysters and 
other officers of the police force to supervise the operation 
of this article and diligently to aid in the enforcement 
of its provisions, and they and any of them are authorized 
and empowered to enter into any house or boat, or any 
other place where oysters may be dumped or stored, to 
inspect the same at any time ; and any packer, commission 
man or boatman who shall refuse to open his house or boat 
where oysters may be dumped or stored for the inspection 
thereof by the officer whose duty it shall be to inspect the 
same, and any person who shall conspire or agree with 
any other person to evade any of the provisions of this 
article, or who shall connive at or participate in such 
violation, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and 
subject to the penalties prescribed in Section 13 of this 
article. 

15. Dismissal of Inspectors. Any general measurer 
or inspector of oysters in this State who shall knowingly 
permit any evasion or violation of this article to take 
place without causing the arrest of the offender shall be 
guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction of the same, 
shall be dismissed from the service and be fined not less 
than fifty dollars nor more than three hundred dollars, in 
the discretion of the court or justice of the peace. 

TIME FOR TAKING OYSTERS. 

16. Closed Season. It shall be unlawful for any per- 
son to take or catch oysters, or have oysters in his or 
their possession, between the twenty-fifth day of April 
and the first day of September in each and every year; 
provided, that oysters caught before the twenty-fifth day 



18 

of April may be disposed of at any time before the thir- 
tieth day of April; nor shall it be construed to prevent 
any person from taking oysters at any time from his pri- 
vate beds within the State for private use or transplanting" 
or cultivating but not for sale. Persons violating the pro- 
visions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misde- 
meanor. 

17. Penalties. Any person who shall violate any pro- 
vision of Sections 8 and 16 of this article shall be deemed 
guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof be- 
fore any court of competent jurisdiction shall be fined not 
less than fifty dollars nor more than three hundred dollars, 
in the discretion of the court or justice of the peace by 
which such person shall be tried, or be imprisoned in the 
county or city jail or in the House of Correction for not 
less than one month nor more than twelve months, in the 
discretion of such judge or justice of the peace; provided, 
however, that any owner, master or person in charge of a 
canoe or boat used in taking or catching oysters with 
rakes or tongs who shall be convicted of having in his pos- 
session on said canoe or boat oysters containing more than 
five per cent, of unmerchantable oysters, as provided in 
Section 9, shall be required to cull his cargo and dispose 
of the culls as required in Section 11 of this article, and 
shall be fined a sum not less than ten dollars nor more 
than fifty dollars, in the discretion of the judge or justice 
of the peace before whom such person shall be tried ; one- 
half of every fine imposed for any violation of this section 
shall be paid to the informer, unless he be an officer of 
the State Fishery Force. 

18. Catching Oysters on Sunday or at Night Pro- 
hibited. It shall be unlawful for any person to take or 
catch oysters on Sunday or at night ; and any person vio- 
lating this section shall, on conviction thereof, be fined 
a sum of not less than fifty dollars nor more than three 
hundred dollars, or sentenced to the House of Correction 
for a period of not less than three months nor more than 



19 

one year, or forfeit the boat, vessel or canoe used in viola- 
tion of this section, in the discretion of the judge or jus- 
tice of the peace trying the case. 

19. Disposition of Fines; Duties op State's Attor- 
neys. (Text omitted, see Code.) 

DREDGING. 

20. Steamer or Power Boat Prohibited. No steamer 
or power boat of any kind shall be used or employed in 
catching or taking oysters in the waters of the State with 
scoop, dredge or similar instrument; and the captain 
of any boat licensed to take or catch oysters with scoop, 
dredge or similar instrument, who shall have on his boat, 
so licensed, any engine or motor of any kind, whether 
attached to said boat or not, which is adapted to or can 
be used in the propulsion of said boat, shall be guilty of a 
misdemeanor, and upori conviction thereof shall be fined 
not less than fifty dollars nor more than three hundred 
dollars ; and no other boat shall be used in catching oysters 
with scoop, dredge or similar instrument without first 
having been licensed as hereinafter provided. 

21. Dredging License; Exempted Waters; Transfer 
of License. The Comptroller of the Treasury shall, upon 
application of any person who has been a resident of this 
State for twelve consecutive months next preceding his 
application, issue a license to such resident, and to no 
other person, to employ such boat in taking or catching 
oysters with scoop, dredge or similar instrument within the 
waters of the Chesapeake Bay, Potomac River and in East- 
ern Bay, outside of a line drawn from the southwest cor- 
ner of First Kent point to north end of Poplar Island; 
provided, that nothing herein contained shall authorize 
the taking or catching of oysters with scoop, dredge or 
similar instrument on any oyster bar within one and one- 
half miles of Tolley's Point, Sandy Point, Hackett's Point, 
Thomas' Point, Holland's Island Bar and Three Sisters; 
nor within one and one-half miles of Holland's Point Bar' 
nor of Swan's Point Bar; nor between Poplar Island and 



20 

the mainland of Talbot County, south of a line drawn 
from the north point of Poplar Island to Low's Point on 
the mainland; nor north of a line drawn from the end 
of the south bar of Poplar Island to Pawpaw Cove, on 
Tilghman's Island; nor within one-quarter of a mile west 
of Poplar Island; nor within one-half of a mile of Plum 
Point; nor within the boundary 1 lines of any county, 
unless herein otherwise specified; which license shall hold 
good for one season only and shall only authorize the 
catching of oysters between the first day of November 
and the fifteenth day of March, on which day the dredging 
season shall end ; provided, however, that in the waters of 
the Potomac River the beginning of the dredging season 
shall be on the fifteenth day of October; but it shall be 
lawful for the owner of any such licensed boat whenever 
said owner shall sell and convey by bill of sale for a 
bona fide consideration such boat to any person who has 
been a resident of the State of Maryland for at least one 
year to transfer said license to said purchaser with said 
boat, which license, when transferred, shall entitle said 
purchaser to the same privileges of catching and taking 
oysters with said boat in the waters of this State that the 
original owner had before such assignment; provided, 
said seller and buyer appear before the Comptroller of 
the Treasury and make oath before him to all facts, mat- 
ters and things required of said original owner of such 
boat before taking out such license, upon which said license 
said Comptroller shall certify in writing that the said 
purchaser has taken said oath, for which said certificate 
the said purchaser shall pay to the Comptroller the sum 
of five dollars for the use of the oyster fund. The pro- 
visions of this section in relation to the time of taking 
oysters, the time of expiration of license, and the transfer 
of ownership, shall apply to all vessels licensed by any 
county in this State to take and catch oysters with dredge, 
scrape or scoop. 

22. Unlicensed Vessels. It shall not be lawful for 
the owner or master or any person on board of a vessel 
in this State to affix any crank, spool, winder or other 



21 

machinery or equipment for operating or handling scoops 
or dredges, or to have on board any vessel a scoop, scrape, 
or dredge, with intent to affix the same to said vessel for use 
in taking or catching oysters, without having first obtained 
a license to take or catch oysters with a scoop or dredge 
as aforesaid; and the fact of having such scoop, dredge 
or scrape on board of any vessel shall be prima facie 
evidence of an intent to use the same contrary to this 
section. 

23. Owner's and Master's Oaths Required Before 
Dredging License Is Issued; Penalties. (Text omitted, 
see Code.) 

24. License Fees; Commanders to Inspect Dredge 
Boats. After granting such license, the Comptroller shall 
receive two dollars and eighty-five cents for every gross 
ton the boat shall measure, except boats of less than four 
tons gross measurement, when the license shall be eight 
dollars for each of said boats ; and where any license issued 
by authority of any county, the clerk of the circuit court 
for the county shall receive for such license from the ap- 
plicant one dollar and ninety cents per ton for every gross 
ton the boat may measure, except boats of less than five 
tons gross measurement, when the license shall be eight 
dollars for each of said boats, said measurement to be 
gross tonnage of custom-house measurement ; but no allow- 
ance or deduction shall be made or allowed by reason of 
dunnaging, and the captain or masters shall always have 
such license on board of their boats, and shall exhibit the 
same wherever it shall be demanded by any duly author- 
ized officer. It shall be the duty of the Commander of 
the State Fishery Force, and any officer under his com- 
mand, at any time that he or they shall deem it proper, 
to inspect and verify the measurements of any boats and 
their gross tonnage, and the measurement ascertained by 
such officer shall be conclusive and final; and any license 
granted shall be corrected and amended in accordance 
with such measurements and the appropriate license fee 
hereinbefore named paid in accordance with such cor- 
rected measurement, and the right granted by any license 



22 

already issued shall be suspended until the full payment 
of such license fee is made. And one-third of any license 
fee received by the clerk of the circuit court for any 
county in this State shall be paid to the Comptroller of 
the State Treasury by the said clerk within ninety days 
after receiving the same, to be by the said Comptroller 
credited to the oyster fund; and all acts and all public 
general or public local laws inconsistent with the pro- 
visions of this section be and the same are hereby repealed. 

25. Penalties for Violation of Secs. 20-22. (Text 
omitted, see Code.) 

26. Arrest of Offenders; Justice of Peace to Issue 
Warrant; Posse Comitatus; Speedy Hearing. (Text 
omitted, see Code). 

27. Firearms Prohibited on Dredge Boats ; Exception ; 
Penalties. It shall not be lawful for the owner or master, 
or any person on board of or having control over any boat 
or vessel licensed to catch or take oysters in the waters 
of this State with scoop, dredge or similar instrument, to 
have or permit to be kept on such boat or vessel any 
cannon, howitzer or any piece of ordnance, or any swivel, 
musket, rifle or other piece or species of firearms larger 
than a pistol, except two-shot guns not larger than a 
number ten gauge, and not to use larger than number one 
shot. (Part of text omitted, see Code.) 

28. Arrests. It shall be the duty of the sheriff, con- 
stable or officers of the State Fishery Force to arrest any 
person, and to seize any canoe, boat or vessel found viola- 
ting any of the provisions of this article and bring the 
offender or offenders before a judge of a court having 
criminal jurisdiction, or a justice of the peace most con- 
venient or accessible, to be dealt with as herein provided. 

29. Forfeiture and Sale of Vessel Violating Law; 
Distribution Proceeds of Sale ; Right of Appeal ; Asser- 
tion of Liens upon Vessel. (Text omitted, see Code.) 

30. Forfeiture and Sale of Vessel Owned by Non- 
residents. (Text omitted, see Code.) 



23 

CONSERVATION FUND. 

(Formerly Oyster Fund.) 

31. Moneys Included. All moneys received or obtained 
from dredging licenses issued under the provisions of the 
preceding sections of this article, and one-third of the 
moneys received from the county tonging licenses, and 
all fines, penalties or forfeitures imposed in pursuance 
thereof, shall, upon the warrant of the Comptroller, be 
paid into the treasury and placed to the credit of a fund 
which shall be called the oyster (now conservation) fund, 
and the same shall be kept separate and distinct from other 
funds in the treasury, and shall only be drawn upon for 
the purpose of maintaining sufficient and proper police 
regulations for the protection of fish and oysters in Mary- 
land waters, and in the payment of the officers and men, 
and keeping in repair and supplying the necessary means 
of sailing the boats and vessels of the State Fishery Force. 
And the Comptroller is hereby required to state in his 
annual report particularly the receipts and expenditures 
on account of said funds and the balance standing to the 
credit of the State at the time of making such report. 

32. Painted Numbers for Dredging Vessels. The 
Comptroller shall have painted in black figures, on white 
canvas, one number corresponding to the license to catch 
oysters with scoop, scrape, dredge or other similar instru- 
ments; each figure shall be twenty-two inches in length 
and of proportionate width, and the figures at least six 
inches apart. And he shall give to each person taking out 
such license one number thereof, which shall be securely 
sewed upon the starboard side and in the middle of that 
part of the mainsail which is above the close reef; this 
number shall be placed in an upright position and worn 
at all times during the dredging season, and returned at 
the end of the season, and shall not be concealed or de- 
faced, and no other number shall be exposed to view or 
used than that which is furnished by the Comptroller. Any 
person who shall violate the provisions of this section shall 
be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, as provided in Section 



24 

17 of this article; and in any such case the boat or vessel 
shall be forfeited and condemned, in the discretion of the 
judge, in the manner as provided in Section 29. The pro- 
visions of this section shall apply to all boats licensed to 
take oysters with scrape or scoop by any county in this 
State, except that the numbers for such boats shall be 
painted red instead of black; and the numbers shall be 
delivered by the Comptroller to the clerks of the courts as 
they! may be ordered ; and at the end of the season all 
licenses not used shall be returned by said clerks to the 
Comptroller; and the said clerks shall also pay to the 
Comptroller one-half of all moneys received by him for 
such licenses, which sum shall be placed to the credit of 
the oyster fund. 

DREDGING IN EXEMPTED WATERS. 

33. Vessels Dredging in Exempted Waters to be 
Seized; Oysters on Hand Prima Facie Evidence of 
Violation. (Text omitted, see Code.) 

STATE FISHERY FORCE. 

34. Arms and Ammunition. The Board of Public 
Works (now Conservation Commission) are empowered 
and directed to purchase for each of the guard boats 
such arms and ammunition as may be necessary to make 
them efficient, and the officers of such boats shall be author- 
ized to use such arms, in their discretion, for the enforce- 
ment of the provisions of this article. 

35. Division of Waters into Districts. For the more 
efficient working of the State Fishery Force, the waters 
of this State shall be divided into seven districts, of which 
the waters of Kent and Queen Anne's shall be the first; 
the waters of Queen Anne's and Talbot shall be the second ; 
the waters of Talbot and Dorchester, the third ; the waters 
of Wicomico, the fourth; the waters of Somerset, the fifth; 
the waters of Anne Arundel, the sixth; the waters of St. 
Mary's, Charles and Calvert, the seventh. Each of said 



25 

districts shall be guarded by one sailing vessel, except the 
second, which shall be guarded by two; and the third, 
which shall be guarded by four ; and the sixth and seventh, 
which shall be guarded by two each. And it shall be the 
duty of the deputy commander of the first district to 
guard the waters of Chester River belonging to Queen 
Anne's County, and the waters of Kent County, including 
Swan Point Bar; and the duty of the first commander 
of the second district to guard the waters of Eastern Bay 
and its tributaries ; and the duty of the second commander 
of the second district to guard the tonging reservation of 
Poplar Island Narrows and the waters of Talbot County 
as far down as Black Walnut Point ; and it shall be the 
duty of one of the deputy commanders of the third district 
to guard the waters of Choptank River and its tributaries 
as far as Cambridge; and the duty of the second to guard 
the waters of Little Choptank River, in Dorchester County ; 
and the third to guard the waters of Fishing Bay, Honga 
River, Tar Bay, Hooper's Straits, Holland's Straits and 
waters of Dorchester County up to the line dividing Dor- 
chester County from the Counties of Wicomico and Som- 
erset; and the fourth to guard the waters of the Great 
Choptank River from Cambridge up as far as oysters 
grow, and the remaining' commanders to guard their re- 
spective districts; provided, that the Board of Public 
Works (now Conservation Commission) or the Commander 
of the Fishery Force are hereby authorized and empowered 
to order the deputy commander to do duty in any of the 
waters in the State when, in the judgment of either, the 
same may be necessary. (Special guard boat for Wicomico 
River, Somerset County, provided by Section 131 of Arti- 
cle 72.) 

36. Appointment of Commander and Deputies. The 
Board of Public Works (now Conservation Commission) 
shall have power to appoint a suitable person to command 
said force, who shall be known as the Commander of the 
State Fishery Force, and shall command the one steamer 
that is regularly in commission as a part of the State 
Fishery Force, and to appoint a deputy commander for 
each sailing vessel for their respective districts from among 



26 

persons of the counties whose waters comprise the different 
districts, who shall be commissioned by the governor; and 
the said deputy commanders shall have power to appoint 
their subordinates and select their crews; and the terms 
of office of said commanders shall be for two years, unless 
sooner removed for incompetency or neglect of duty ; and 
if any of the said officers shall fail in the discharge of his 
duty by reason of collusion with parties interested in 
violating any of the provisions of this article, he shall 
be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon indictment 
and conviction in a court of competent jurisdiction, shall 
be fined or imprisoned, at the discretion of the court. No 
person shall be eligible to the office of commander of the 
State Fishery Force or deputy commander who is the 
owner of or who has any interest in any scrape or dredge 
boat ; and it is hereby made unlawful to appoint any such 
person as commander or deputy commander of any boat 
or vessel in the State Fishery Force. The steamers and 
boats belonging to the State Fishery Force are to be used 
only on business pertaining to its official duties or on State 
business. 

37. Removal of Officers or Crew. The Board of Pub- 
lic Works (now Conservation Commission) shall have 
power to remove any officer of said force for neglect of 
duty or incompetency; and the commander of the force 
shall have power to suspend any officer of the force for 
a period not exceeding thirty days for any neglect of duty ; 
and any officer commanding in said force shall have power 
to remove any subordinate under his command and to ap- 
point a person to fill the vacancy whenever the interest 
of said service may, in his judgment, require him so to do. 

38. Methods for Reducing Expenses of State Fishery 
Force. (Text omitted, see Code.) 

39. Duties of Deputy Commanders of Steamers. The 
deputy commanders of the steamers are hereby required to 
keep their vessels constantly on duty when circumstances 
will permit; and every locality where a violation of the 
law is likely to occur shall be visited, not only in the sea- 



27 

son, but during the closed season, both day and night, as 
often as the duties of the force and condition of the ves- 
sels will allow ; or whenever there is any information that 
a violation of this article is likely to occur, then it shall 
be the duty of the deputy commanders at once to proceed 
to the places suspected and vigilantly to guard the said 
places to see that no one will violate the provisions of this 
article; and every three months a report shall be made 
to the Board of Public Works (now Conservation Com- 
mission) of all official action taken under this article. 

40. Duties of All Deputy Commanders. It shall be 
the duty of the deputy commanders of the said vessels to 
confine themselves ordinarily to their several districts, 
night and day, in and out of season; but it shall be their 
duty also to enforce any of the provisions of this article 
in any water adjacent to their district when a violation 
of the same shall come to their knowledge. 

41. Oath and Bond^ of Deputy Commanders. The 
commanding officer and the deputy commanders of said 
force shall, upon entering upon the discharge of their 
duties, take before one of the judges of the circuit courts 
the oath prescribed by the constitution; and the com- 
manding officer of said force shall enter into bond to the 
State of Maryland in the sum of ten thousand dollars, 
and each deputy commander in the sum of three thousand 
dollars, to be approved by one of the said judges, for the 
faithful performance of their duties as prescribed in this 
article, the said bond or bonds to be filed with the Comp- 
troller. 

42. Salaries, Etc. The salary of the Commander of 
the State Fishery Force shall be fifteen hundred dollars 
per annum, and he shall have power to appoint one officer, 
at a salary of six hundred dollars per annum ; one engineer, 
at a salary of eight hundred dollars per annum, and one 
assistant engineer, at a salary of six hundred dollars per 
annum; one pilot, at a salary of thirty-five dollars per 
month during the oyster season, and thirty dollars per 
month during the closed season; two seamen, two firemen, 



28 

and one cook, at a salary of thirty dollars per month each ; 
and each deputy commander of the said vessels shall have 
the power to appoint one officer, at a salary of five hun- 
dred dollars per annum, and three seamen, at a salary of 
thirty-five dollars each per month during the oyster season, 
and thirty dollars per month during the closed season, 
except the deputy commander of the second guard boat 
of the second district, who shall receive fifty dollars per 
month for the year, and he shall appoint a mate, at a 
salary of forty dollars per month, and two seamen, at a 
salary of thirty dollars each per month, each to be selected 
from the district in which they are respectively to serve. 

43. Rations. The members of said force shall at all 
times keep themselves neatly clothed in proper uniform 
when on duty at their own expense. The officers and 
crews of the steamers and sailing vessels of the State 
Fishery Force shall receive one ration per day of the 
quality such as is allowed by law to the officers and crews 
of the revenue marines of the United States, and the sum 
of thirty cents per day for each man is hereby appro- 
priated to carry into effect the provisions of this section; 
which sums are payable out of the oyster fund of the 
State of Maryland to and upon the approval of the Com- 
mander of the State Fishery Force; provided, however, 
that the provisions of this section shall only apply to the 
officers and crews of the State Fishery Force employed on, 
steamers and vessels owned by the State of Maryland, and 
nothing herein shall apply to the officers and crews upon 
any boat or boats leased or hired by the State. 

44. Duties of Officers of Force. It shall be the duty 
of all officers of the oyster police force to diligently watch 
and guard and to arrest all violators of any of the pro- 
visions of this article, and the commanders of both the 
vessels and steamers shall keep their boats on duty at all 
times, both day and night, so far as possible, Sundays in- 
cluded, and shall cruise near to the line dividing the 
grounds which they are assigned to guard from the dredg- 
ing grounds; and shall harbor as near said line as it is 
possible for them to do; and shall remain on board their 



29 

boats at all times, unless disabled by sickness or excused 
by the commander of the force; and shall keep a log of 
their movements ; and shall once in each month forward a 
copy of such log to the office of the commander. Any viola- 
tion of duty in these respects shall be deemed a sufficient 
cause for the removal of any officer, and he shall be so 
removed. 

45. Enforcement of Fish Laws. The State Fishery 
Force shall have authority to enforce all laws of this State 
relating to fish, whether general or local, and the several 
deputy commanders of sloops and vessels shall be required 
to visit the tributaries and streams of their respective dis- 
tricts at least once in two weeks between the first day of 
May and the first day of October, and at any other time 
when notified by citizens or others of violation; and they 
shall arrest and bring to trial all persons found violating 
any section of this article and cause them to be tried and 
punished, as provided by law. 

46. Commander of Force; His Office and Clerk. 
The commander of said force shall have control and direc- 
tion of said force, under the supervision of the Board of 
Public Works (now Conservation Commission) with power 
to direct its movements, and shall have an office, to which 
place all complaints and applications for assistance shall 
be addressed. And it shall be his duty to have kept an 
itemized account of all expenses and disbursements of said 
force, and report same monthly, accompanied by proper 
receipts and vouchers. The said commander shall be per- 
mitted to have a clerk, at a salary of one thousand dollars 
per annum ; said clerk shall remain at the office in Annapo- 
lis and issue, by power, all orders necessary for the proper 
maintenance and supply of said force. 

CRAIGHILL CHANNEL. 

52. Dredging Within 500 Yards of Craighill or 
Cut-Off Channel Prohibited; Penalties. (Text omitted, 
see Code.) 



30 
PATUXENT RIVER. 

53. Closed Season. It shall be unlawful to take or 
catch oysters, with rakes or tongs, in the waters of the 
Patuxent River between the first day of April and the 
thirtieth day of September, inclusive; provided, that noth- 
ing in this section shall prohibit any person from taking 
or catching oysters from his private bed or bar. 

54. Penalty. Any person violating the provisions of 
the preceding section shall be deemed guilty of a misde- 
meanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punishable 
as provided in this article. 

PATUXENT— POTOMAC— CHOPTANK. 

55-59. Further Regulations as to Closed Seasons 
for Catching Oysters in Patuxent, Potomac and Chop- 
tank Rivers; Certain Privileges ,t(J Lessees of St. 
Mary's, Charles and Calvert Counties; Penalties. 
(Text omitted, see Code; also Act of 1912, Ch. 603.) 

POTOMAC. 

60-68. Regulations for Catching Oysters or Fish in 
the Potomac River. (Text omitted, see Code. These sec- 
tions probably superseded by Act of 1912, Ch. 4, being 
concurrent legislation between Maryland and Virginia. 
See pages 58-63 hereof. 

GENERAL MEASURERS AND INSPECTORS OF 
OYSTERS. 

(Amended Act 1916, Chapter 702.) 

69. Appointment General Inspectors. The Conserva- 
tion Commission of Maryland shall appoint nine suitable 
persons to serve as general measurers and inspectors of 
oysters, four of whom shall be assigned to Baltimore City 
and the remaining five shall be assigned to such ports or 



31 

districts elsewhere in the State as the Commission may in 
its discretion deem best for the good of the service. Each 
general measurer and inspector of oysters for the City of 
Baltimore shall give bond to the State of Maryland in the 
sum of three thousand dollars, and all other general meas- 
urers and inspectors and all the special inspectors shall 
give bond to said State in the sum of one thousand dollars 
for the faithful performance of their duties; and the 
general measurers and inspectors shall have the same 
power and authority over oysters sold in the waters 
adjacent to the port to which they may be assigned as 
hereinafter given to the general measurers and inspectors 
over such city, town or port for which they shall be re- 
spectively named. 

70. Appointment Special Inspectors; Duties; In- 
spection Tax upon Oysters Caught Within the State. 
The Conservation Commission, at the commencement of, 
or during the oyster season in each year, as needed, shall 
appoint from the counties producing oysters for packing 
purposes in the State, not exceeding twenty special in- 
spectors, at a salary of forty-five dollars per month, while 
actually employed during the oyster season, and they shall 
be stationed at such places as in the judgment of said Com- 
mission their services may be needed. Before assuming 
the duties of their offices the said special inspectors shall 
take an oath, to be administered by one of the members 
of the Commission, to diligently and faithfully discharge 
the duties of their said offices; each said special inspector 
shall inspect all oysters in the district to which he is as- 
signed ; upon the inspection of any such oysters, each spe- 
cial inspector shall make a certificate of the number of 
bushels in triplicate, one of which shall be given to the 
purchaser, one to the seller, and the other daily to the 
general measurer and inspector of the district where such 
inspection occurred; in order to help defray the expenses 
occasioned by the inspection of oysters caught within the 
limits of the State of Maryland as provided for by this 
section and by the other sections of this article, including 
the expenses of the State Fishery Force growing out of 



32 

the inspection by it of oysters caught within the limits of 
the State of Maryland as required by the various pro- 
visions of this article, an inspection charge of one cent per 
bushel is hereby levied upon all oysters caught within the 
limits of the State of Maryland, unloaded from vessels 
at the place in Maryland where said oysters are to be no 
further shipped in bulk in vessels, to be charged equally 
to the buyer and seller, but to be paid weekly to the 
Comptroller of the State Treasury, or his agent, by the 
buyers; the certificate given the general measurer and in- 
spector shall be by him mailed weekly to the Comptroller 
or his agent, and in case the amounts of money shown to 
be due be not paid in one week thereafter to the Comp- 
troller or his agent, which is hereby required to be done, 
the properties of the parties so indebted may be levied on 
and sold by the said Comptroller or his agent, as in cases 
of taxes in default, without other process of law ; the said 
inspection charge of one cent per bushel hereby levied 
is also made a charge on oysters caught within the limits 
of the Stajte of Maryland and sold by commission merchants 
and others selling by less than. the cargo; and also an in- 
spection charge of three cents per barrel containing not 
more than three bushels of oysters caught within the limits 
of the State of Maryland ; on oysters caught within the 
limits of the State of Maryland contained in bags an in- 
spection charge of two cents per bag containing not more 
than two bushels; and all transportation companies carry- 
ing oysters in the shell caught within the limits of the 
State of Maryland, consigned to Baltimore, shall furnish 
to the oyster inspector or collector of oyster tax, a copy 
of their manifest showing the number of bushels on board 
on arrival of steamer and to whom consigned, and the 
special inspectors are charged with the duty of seeing that 
the proper returns are made for the purpose of this sec- 
tion by such commission merchants or retailer, and in per- 
formance of their duty the said special inspectors are 
authorized and directed to visit the places where oysters 
caught within the limits of the State of Maryland in less 
than cargo lots, are sold, and get from such sellers a state- 
ment under oath as to the number of bushels sold from time 



33 

to time and return to the general measurers and inspectors 
a certificate thereof to be forwarded to the Comptroller 
as required in the case of certificates for cargoes, and the 
payments of the amounts so found to be due shall be simi- 
larly enforced. All oysters found within the State of 
Maryland shall be presumed to have been caught within 
the limits of the State of Maryland and the burden of 
proof shall be upon any one claiming to the contrary to 
establish his said claim by clear and satisfactory evidence. 
All such general measurers and inspectors or special in- 
spectors may be removed at any time by the Conservation 
Commission for neglect or malfeasance in office. The said 
Commission shall furnish to each of the said special in- 
spectors certificates in book form, supplied with carbon 
paper, so that each of the said triplicate certificates shall 
be exactly the same; the form of the certificates shall be 
as follows : 

19.... 

I hereby certify, that I have this day inspected for 

Captain , schooner , 

a cargo of oysters caught within the limits of the State 

of Maryland, sold to , and found the 

same to contain bushels of merchantable oysters 

and bushels of unmerchantable oysters. 

(Signed) 

71. Inspection of Oysters Caught Without the 
State. (Text omitted, see Code. Provisions similar to 
preceding Section 70, except that rate of tax is fixed at 
one-third cent per bushel, and tax is applied to pay cost 
of inspection only.) 

72. Inspection Districts; Sworn Statements Re- 
quired of Oyster Packers. At the beginning of each 
oyster season the Conservation Commission shall divide the 
inspection points in Baltimore City into four inspection 
districts and organize the board of inspectors provided for 
the City of Baltimore in Section 69 of this article, and 
all general measurers and inspectors provided in said Sec- 
tion 69 shall be assigned to and remain during the whole 



34 

season at the specific points to which they are assigned, sub- 
ject, however, to the discretion of the Commission; and 
the Commission shall have general control and supervision 
over all general measurers and inspectors and special 
inspectors; and the said general measurers and inspectors 
and special inspectors are hereby required to report to the 
Commission whenever required, and if they shall refuse or 
neglect to make such report they shall be fined for each 
said failure or refusal the sum of ten dollars, to be de- 
ducted from their salaries, and the said Commission shall 
have the power to transfer any general measurer and in- 
spector or any special inspector from any house or district 
whenever it may deem it best for the good of the service to 
enforce the proper inspection, the cull law and the collec- 
tion of the tax for the oyster fund. In addition to the 
certificates required by Sections 70 and 71 hereof, every 
packer or commission merchant buying oysters in the State 
of Maryland shall furnish to the special inspector of his 
district a weekly report under oath showing the number 
of bushels, bags or barrels of oysters purchased by him 
during the preceding week. Every packer or canner of 
oysters, and every person selling oysters on commission, 
when taking out a license at the beginning of the oyster 
season as required by Sections 79 and 81 of Article 72, 
shall make oath that he will furnish such weekly reports 
showing correct number of oysters purchased by him dur- 
inp the preceding week. The said oaths may be made be- 
fore any general measurer and inspector or special meas- 
urer, each of whom is hereby authorized and directed to 
administer such oaths without charge, or before any notary 
public or justice of the peace. 

73. Duties and Powers of General Measurers and In- 
spectors. It shall be the duty of said general measurers 
and inspectors of oysters to see that the law in reference 
to the inspection of oysters be strictly complied with by 
all subordinates, and the general measurers and inspectors 
of oysters shall have authority at all times to enter all 
places and all vessels where oysters are being measured and 
inspected in the shell, and to inspect all the measures or 



35 

instruments used in measuring oysters, and to see that the 
inspection laws are properly enforced, and if the measures 
are incorrect, the said general measurer and inspector of 
oysters shall take possession of the incorrect measures ; and 
the inspectors of oysters are authorized, directed and re- 
quired to arrest any person or persons violating any of 
the provisions of this article. It shall be the further duty 
of the general measurers and inspectors of oysters to return 
under oath to the Comptroller of the State annually a com- 
plete statement of the amount of oysters inspected or 
measured in the city, town or port for which they shall be 
respectively appointed. 

74. Licensed Measurers. No person, after April 8, 
1908, shall act as a measurer of oysters in Baltimore City, 
except the general measurer and inspector of oysters, and 
such persons who shall be duly licensed measurers for said 
city. Any person, after April 8, 1908, who shall desire to 
engage in the business of oyster measurer in Baltimore 
City shall, on or before the first day of September in each 
year, before he undertakes to act as such, first apply to the 
clerk of the superior court of Baltimore City for a license 
so to do, which license shall be issued upon application, and 
the payment to said clerk of a license fee of five dollars and 
fifty cents, which license shall expire on the first day of 
May of the following year. Five dollars of said fee shall 
be by said clerk accounted for and paid over to the State, 
to be placed to the credit of the oyster fund, and the re- 
maining fifty cents shall be applied by said clerk to his 
own use and fee for issuing said license ; said oyster meas- 
urers shall also take the usual oath of office, and give bond 
to the State of Maryland in the penalty of one hundred 
dollars each for the faithful performance of their duties. 

75. Salaries of Oyster Inspectors; Penalties for 
Violations.; Reports. The general measurers and inspec- 
tors for Baltimore City shall receive a salary of one hun- 
dred dollars per month each and all other general meas- 
urers and inspectors provided for by Section 69 shall re- 
ceive a salary of fifty dollars per month each, the said 
salaries to be paid only during the oyster season and for 



36 

those months in which said general measurers and inspec- 
tors are actually engaged in the performance of the duties 
of their respective offices. Any person who shall violate 
any of the provisions of Sections 69, 70, 72 to 75, inclusive, 
of this article, or who shall interfere with the general 
measurers or inspectors of oysters or the special inspectors 
in the discharge of their duties, shall be deemed guilty of 
a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction before any justice of 
the peace or court of competent jurisdiction, shall pay a 
fine of fifty dollars and costs, one-half of said fine to the 
informer, unless he be an officer under this article, and the 
other half to the Comptroller, to the credit of the oyster 
fund. In default of payment of fine and costs, the party 
convicted shall be confined in jail for not more than 
twenty days. Each and every inspector shall report 
monthly to the Conservation Commission, or oftener, if 
required by them, concerning all the oysters which may 
be disposed of within his inspection district, and such re- 
ports shall be a full and complete account of all sales of 
oysters that have been made within such districts. The 
Commission may at any time for good cause shown suspend 
or remove any inspector from office. 

76. Measuring Oysters. All oysters sold in this State 
shall be measured either in a one-half bushel tub, a 
bushel tub, a bushel and one-half tub, or a three-bushel 
tub, and no instruments shall be used for measuring oysters 
in the shell but an iron circular tub with straight sides 
and straight solid bottom, with holes in bottom for drain- 
ing, such holes to be no larger, however, than one inch 
in diameter. A half-bushel tub shall have the following 
dimensions, all measurements to be from inside to inside : 
Fifteen inches across the top, thirteen inches across the 
bottom, and seventeen inches diagonally from the inside 
chime to the top ; a bushel tub shall measure sixteen and 
one-half inches across at the bottom from inside to inside, 
twenty-one inches diagonally from the inside chime to the 
top, and eighteen inches across from inside to inside from 
the top ; a bushel and one-half tub shall measure nineteen 
inches across the top from inside to inside, eighteen inches 



37 

across the bottom from inside to inside, and twenty-four 
inches diagonally from the inside chime to the top ; a three- 
bushel tub shall measure twenty-four inches across the top 
from inside to inside, twenty-two inches from inside to in- 
side at the bottom, and twenty-nine twenty-six-hundredths 
inches diagonally from the inside chime to the top; and 
all oysters measured in the shell, as required by law, shall 
be even measure to the top of the tub only. (Penalties 
omitted; see Code.) The measurers or special inspectors 
are hereby forbidden to handle or interfere with the oysters 
in or upon the tub or measure for the purpose of pressing' 
or pushing down same under penalty of removal from office 
and a fine of ten dollars for each offense. 

PACKING OYSTERS. 

79. Packer's License. It shall be unlawful for any 
person, firm or corporation to engage in the business of 
packing or canning oysters without first taking out a license 
to engage in such business by application to the clerk of 
the circuit court of the county in which the place of busi- 
ness of such applicant may be situated, or to the clerk of 
the Court of Common Pleas, if the place of business of 
such applicant shall be in Baltimore City ; and such appli- 
cant, at the time such license is issued to him by the said 
clerk, shall pay the said clerk the sum of twenty-five dol- 
lars for such license, and said license shall have effect 
from the first day of September, in the year in which 
it may have been obtained, to the tweny-fifth day of April, 
inclusive, next succeeding; and all said moneys received 
for said license shall be paid over and accounted for by 
the several clerks of courts to the Comptroller of the 
State, to be placed to the credit of the oyster (now con- 
servation) fund, as provided by Section 31 of this article. 
(Sworn weekly statements required of oyster packers and 
commission merchants by Act 1916, Ch. 702; see above 
Section 72, paragraph 34, hereof.) 

80. Penalties. If any person, firm or corporation shall 
engage, or attempt to engage, in the business of packing 
or canning oysters without first obtaining a license, as 



38 

provided in the foregoing section, he shall be deemed 
guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be fined not less than 
two hundred and fifty dollars nor more than one thousand 
dollars for each offense. 

81. Commission Merchant's License; Penalties. 
Every person or member of a firm, or member of a cor- 
poration, engaged in the business of selling oysters on 
commission shall, on or before the first day of September 
in each year, take out a license to engage in such business 
by application to the clerk of the circuit court for the 
county in which the place of business of such applicant 
may be situated, or to the clerk of the Court of Common 
Pleas, if the place of business of such applicant shall be 
in Baltimore City; and such applicant, at the time of 
issuing such license, shall pay the sum of twenty-five dol- 
lars; and all said money received for said license shall be 
paid over and accounted for by the said several clerks of 
courts to the Comptroller of the State, to be placed to the 
credit of the oyster (now conservation) fund, as provided 
by 1 Section 31 ; and if any person, member of a firm or 
member of a corporation, shall engage or attempt to en- 
gage in the business of selling oysters on commission with- 
out first obtaining a license, as provided in this section, 
he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be 
fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than 
one thousand dollars for each offense. (See page 34.) 

82. Oyster Gallon Cup. All shucked oysters opened 
at any oyster house in this State, or any other place where 
oysters are opened or sold as a business, or delivered to 
proprietors of any such oyster house or other place, shall 
be shucked by the gallon and not by the can or vessel of 
any other name and designation ; and it shall not be lawful 
for the proprietor of any such place to contract with any 
person to shuck or open oysters at any such house or for 
the proprietor thereof for the purpose of shipping the 
same to the customers of said proprietor otherwise than 
by the gallon. The said oyster house, or the proprietors 
thereof, may in consideration of the quantity of water con- 
tained in shucked oysters, use a cup, which is hereby de- 



39 

clared and determined to be an oyster gallon cup, which 
shall contain nine pints and no more, and no other than 
this standard measure or said oyster gallon cup shall be 
used in said houses or by the proprietors thereof in meas- 
uring any oysters received by them from the shuckers. 
Said oyster gallon cup shall be inspected and stamped by 
the same officer in the City of Baltimore or in any of 
the counties of the State, as is now required by law to in- 
spect and stamp measures. (Penalties omitted, see Code.) 

83. License Blanks; Worcester County Exempt. It 
shall be the duty of the Comptroller to furnish the clerks 
of the several courts of the State with forms of applica- 
tions and license and of the reports or returns required by 
the preceding sections; and it shall be the further duty 
of the Comptroller to furnish all other blanks required 
under this article. Nothing in this article shall be con- 
strued to apply to Worcester County as to the taking or 
catching of oysters in the waters of the said county. 



40 



Part III— OYSTER CULTURE. 

(Code, Article 72.) 

85. Natural Bars Excluded. Any resident of Mary- 
land shall have the right to plant and cultivate oysters in 
the .waters of this State; such right shall be exercised in 
the manner prescribed in the following sections of this 
act, and shall be subject to the regulations, provisions and 
limitations hereinafter set forth, but no corporation or 
joint stock company shall be permitted to lease or take up, 
or to acquire by assignment, or otherwise, any lands of 
the State for oyster planting or cultivation. All natural 
beds or bars shall be excluded from the operation of this 
Act, and no person shall be permitted to plant or cultivate 
oysters thereupon, or in any way to appropriate the same 
to his own use. The term "natural beds or bars" wher- 
ever used in this act shall hereafter be construed to mean 
and include all oyster beds and bars under any of the 
waters of this State whereon the natural growth of oysters 
is of such abundance that the public have successfully 
resorted to such beds or bars for a livelihood, whether 
continuously or at intervals, during any oyster season 
within five years prior to the time of the filing of the ap- 
plication for a lease of the area in question, or if no ap- 
plication has been made for a lease of the area in question, 
then within five years prior to the making of the resurvey 
under Section 96-A, or the filing of a petition under Sec- 
tion 96-B of this act, provided that the actual condition 
of the area in question at any time within said respective 
periods of five years or up to the date of hearing shall 
be taken into consideration in determining whether or not 
said area is a natural bed or bar, as above defined. 

86. Board of Shell Fish Commissioners of Maryland 
Created and Duties Defined. (Text omitted; Board 
superseded by Conservation Commission of Maryland, 
which takes over all "functions, discretion, powers and 
duties" of the former board. In sections following, the 



41 

name "Conservation Commission" should be substituted 
for "Board of Shell Fish Commissioners." ) 

87. Records. The Commissioners shall keep, at their 
office in the City of Baltimore, books of record, in which 
shall be recorded all leases, assignments and other con- 
veyances of land to be used for the planting or cultivation 
of oysters in accordance with this act. A set of clear and 
simple forms, for all subsequent conveyances of any kind, 
shall be prepared by the Board, with the advice of the 
Attorney-General, and no title shall be vested in any lessee 
or transferee of any interest or estate acquired under this 
act until the conveyance or conveyances evidencing such 
leases or transfers shall have been recorded in the office 
of the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners. 

88. Surveys. The Board of Shell Fish Commissioners 
shall, as soon as practicable, after the passage of this act, 
cause to be made a true and accurate survey of the nat- 
ural oyster beds, bars and rocks of this State, said survey 
to be made with reference to fixed and permanent objects 
on the shore, giving courses and distances, to be fully de- 
scribed and set out in a written report of said survey, as 
hereinafter required. A true and accurate delineation of 
the same shall be made on copies of published maps and 
charts of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, 
which said copies shall be filed in the office of the said Com- 
missioners in the City of Baltimore; and the said Com- 
missioners shall further cause to be delineated upon copies 
of the published maps and charts of the United States 
Coast and Geodetic Survey, of the largest scale one copy 
for each of the counties of this State in the waters of 
which there are natural oyster beds, bars and rocks, all 
natural beds, bars and rocks lying within the waters of 
such county, which maps shall be filed in the offices of the 
clerks of the circuit courts for the respective counties 
wherein the grounds so designated may lie. The said sur- 
vey shall be made by the hydrographic engineer employed 
by said Board, as provided in Section 86 of this act, acting 
under the direction and control of the said Commissioners. 
The said natural beds, or bars, shall be marked by buoys, 
which shall be known as State buoys. 



42 

92. Neutral Zones. The said Board, in defining the 
natural beds and bars, shall exercise its judgment liberally 
in favor of the natural beds and bars, and allow a reason- 
able margin of the barren bottoms, rather than encroach 
on a natural bed or bar. The natural beds or bars shall be 
bounded by straight lines, even though some portions of 
barren bottoms may thus be necessarily included within 
such lines. All natural beds or bars shall be surrounded 
by neutral zones 200 yards wide in the Chesapeake Bay 
and Tangier Sound, and 50 yards wide elsewhere, to be 
located contiguous to but entirely outside of the natural 
beds and bars, which neutral zones shall be excluded from 
the operation of this act, and no person shall be permitted 
to plant or cultivate oysters thereon or in any way to 
appropriate the same to his own use; provided that noth- 
ing herein contained shall affect in any manner leases 
actually issued and in force prior to the approval of this 
act within such neutral zones. 

96-A. Resurveys. The Board of Shell Fish Commis- 
sioners may at any time hereafter re-survey and re-exam- 
ine any portion of the areas of the Chesapeake Bay and 
its tributaries in the State of Maryland for the purpose 
of correcting surveys theretofore made by them, and if 
upon such re-survey the Board shall find that natural beds 
or bars have been incorrectly located, they shall prepare 
a revised or amended chart showing the natural bed or 
bar thus re-surveyed, and shall cause to be marked or 
defined as accurately as possible the correct limits and 
boundaries of such natural bed or bar, and said amended 
chart shall be filed in the office of the Board in the City 
of Baltimore within ninety days thereafter, and copies 
thereof shall be filed with the clerk of the circuit court 
of the county in which or nearest to which the natural bed 
or bar thus re-surveyed is located ; provided that such re- 
survey shall in no manner affect leases of a part or all of 
the area re-surveyed, actually issued and in force at the 
time of such re-survey, unless the respective lessees thereof 
shall voluntarily surrender their leases as hereinafter pro- 
vided, or shall forfeit their leases by non-payment of 



43 

rentals as, provided in Section 100, or unless the rights, in- 
terests and properties of the lessees under said leases shall 
be acquired by the State by condemnation proceedings in- 
stituted not later than January 1st, 1915, as provided in 
Section 96-C. The said Board is authorized to accept vol- 
untary surrender of leases of any lots within the area thus 
re-surveyed and found to be natural beds or bars, and 
to refund to such lessee the rentals and charges theretofore 
paid to said Board for the lot or lots surrendered. 

96-B. Court Eeview of Disputed Areas upon Petition 
Filed Prior to January 1, 1915. (Text omitted, see 
Code.) 

96-C. Condemnation of Leases on Natural Bars. 
The rights and interests of lessees under leases outstanding 
and in force at the time of the passage of this act, covering 
areas within the limits of natural beds or bars which may 
be established by the re-surveys provided for by Section 
96-A, or by proceedings taken under Section 96-B, and the 
oysters belonging to such lessees, located on such areas, 
shall be condemned by the State of Maryland for the use 
of the public. The proceedings for the acquisition by the 
State of the rights, interests and properties of such lessees 
shall be that set forth in Chapter 117 of the Acts of 1912 ; 
and it shall be the duty of the State's Attorney of the 
county in which or nearest to which the areas in question 
are located to institute forthwith in the circuit court for 
such county condemnation proceedings in behalf of the 
State of Maryland against the said lessees or those claim- 
ing under them, and to conduct said proceedings to a 
finality in accordance with the provisions of said statute, 
and the respective circuit court for the counties In which 
or nearest to which the areas so condemned are located 
are hereby vested with full power to hear and decide 
such cases, with right of appeal to the parties as pro- 
vided by said statute. But no such right, interest or 
property shall be divested until the compensation awarded 
in such condemnation proceedings to the lessees or those 
claiming under them has first been paid to them by the 
State of Maryland. 



44 

98. Crab Scraping Areas. The Board of Shell Fish 
Commissioners shall cause an accurate survey of and de- 
lineation upon the maps and charts aforesaid of all bot- 
toms of the tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay where grass 
grows and it is profitable to scrape for soft-shell or shedder 
crabs, and shall have such bottoms properly designated by 
permanent objects on the shore, as provided hereinbefore 
for natural oyster beds, bars and rocks, which said crab- 
bing sections shall be exempt from leasing for oyster 
culture. 

100. Leases; Terms; Acreage. After the survey or 
re-survey provided for herein shall have been completed, 
it shall be the duty of the Board of Shell Fish Commis- 
sioners to lease, in the name of the State of Maryland, 
tracts or parcels of land beneath the waters of this State, 
whether within the limits of the counties or elsewhere, in 
the area to be opened for oyster culture, according to 
the provisions of this act ; provided that no tract so leased, 
if situated within the territorial limits of any county in 
this State, shall contain less than one acre of land, and if 
situated in any other place, no tract so leased shall contain 
less than five acres. It shall be the duty of said Board to 
require that the tracts so leased shall be as nearly rec- 
tangular as is convenient. It shall be the duty of the 
said Board to demand from each lessee payment of the 
rent each year in advance. No person shall be permitted, 
by lease, assignment or in any other manner, to acquire 
a greater amount of land than thirty acres situated within 
the territorial limits of any of the counties, or five hun- 
dred acres in any other place ; provided, however, that an 
individual may acquire a tract not exceeding one hundred 
acres of land beneath the waters of Tangier Sound. Leases 
of such lands shall be made only to residents of Maryland. 
The term of such leases shall be twenty years, and the 
annual rent reserved to the State shall be one dollar per 
acre for each of the first two years of said term of twenty 
years; two dollars per acre for the third year; three dol- 
lars per acre for the fourth year; four dollars per acre 
for the fifth year, and five dollars per acre during the 



45 

remainder of the term. On and after April 1, 1913, the 
Board of Shell Fish Commissioners may lease at a rental 
price which, in their judgment, is a proper one and com- 
mensurate with the value of the land so leased, any land 
subject to the provisions of this act which has not been 
applied for or leased up to that time; provided, however, 
that no land shall be leased at a less price than twenty-five 
cents (25c.) per acre, and the land so leased under this 
provision shall be subject to all other provisions of this 
act. If any part of the rent reserved under such leases 
shall remain unpaid for more than sixty days after the 
same becomes due, such lease or leases may at the option 
of said Board be declared void, and in that event the land 
shall revert to the State and may be leased again in accord- 
ance with the provisions of this act. The said Board may, 
at the request of any lessee, if it shall appear equitable so 
to do, upon cause shown in writing, cancel his lease as to 
the whole or a part of the lands leased. The Board of 
Shell Fish Commissioners is hereby directed to submit 
a plan to the next session of the General Assembly of 
Maryland providing' for the assessment of rentals for 
leased bottoms in accordance with the value of these bot- 
toms for the cultivation of oysters. 

101-2. When Leasing to Begin. Priority to Riparian 
Land Owner, Then to Oystermen, Then to Public. 
(Text omitted, see Code.) 

103-104. Application Forms Prescribed. Leases to be 
Made in Order Application Received. (Text omitted, 
see Code.) 

105. Application Fees; Advertisements; Protests; 
Trials. Any person who may desire to plant and culti- 
vate oysters in the area hereinbefore designated shall file 
with the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners an applica- 
tion substantially in the form prescribed in Section 103 of 
this act. The applicant, who must be a resident of the 
State of Maryland, shall indicate plainly the location of 
the land he desires to lease. The application shall be sworn 
to before a justice of the peace of this State. A fee of five 



46 

dollars shall be paid by the applicant to the Board of Shell 
Fish Commissioners at the time of filing the application, 
which fee shall be returned to the applicant if his applica- 
tion shall be for any reason declined. All applications for 
leases pending at the time of the passage of this act, but 
not then actually issued and in force, and all applications 
hereafter made shall be advertised by said Board once a 
week for four successive weeks in a newspaper published 
in the county in which or nearest to which the area ap- 
plied for is located, said advertisement to describe the 
location of the area applied for and to give the name and 
residence of the applicant, and the Board shall have no 
power to issue any lease without such advertisement. Any 
three or more residents of this State may within the period 
of thirty days after the last insertion of such advertisement 
file a protest in writing against such application in the 
circuit court for the county in which or nearest to which 
the area applied for is located, and the clerk of said 
court shall thereupon docket a suit at law in which the 
protestants are to be the plaintiffs and the Board of Shell 
Fish Commissioners the defendant, and the said case shall 
thereafter proceed as set forth in Section 96-B, with the 
right of appeal as provided in said section ; provided, how- 
ever, that no such protest may be filed if it shall appear 
that the character of the area in question has been adjudi- 
cated in proceedings theretofore taken under the provisions 
of Section 96-B, or that proceedings under said section are 
then pending. If no protest is filed within the time herein 
provided, all leases issued after the passage of this act, in 
accordance with its provisions, shall be binding on the re- 
spective parties thereto and conclusive as to the nature of 
the area leased, notwithstanding the provisions of Sections 
96-A, 96-B and 96-C of this act. 

106. Issuance of Lease. Immediately after the ter- 
mination of the respective periods prescribed for the filing 
of protests or appeals as above provided, or immediately 
after the final decision upon any protests or appeals that 
the area in question may lawfully be leased, it shall be the 
duty of the said Board to notify the applicant by letter 



47 

mailed to his last known post-office address that said Board 
is ready to issue the lease applied for, and upon the pay- 
ment by the applicant of a further fee of two dollars 
and a half, in addition to the fee of five dollars which is to 
accompany his application, and upon execution of the 
lease, said Board shall cause to be entered in a book or 
books to be known as "The Register of Titles to Oyster 
Land, ' ' the name of the applicant, with a concise but clear 
description of the land applied for. If the applicant fails 
to accept the lease and pay all fees herein provided within 
sixty days after the mailing of the notice herein provided, 
the application in question shall become null and void, and 
all payments theretofore made to said Board by the appli- 
cant shall be forfeited; provided, however, that the said 
Board may for good cause shown extend the time for ac- 
ceptance of leases for an additional period of sixty days. 
The payment of the proper fees due for the application and 
record in the register required by this section to be kept 
shall constitute between the State and the applicant the 
relation of landlord and tenant for the term of twenty 
years from the record of the lands so applied for as afore- 
said, at the annual rentals provided in Section 100 of 
this act. 

107. Rights of Lessee. The relation of landowner and 
tenant stated in Section 106 shall have all the incidents 
attaching to that relation as the same exists under the 
laws of Maryland, excepting only the following particulars : 

First: Land leased under this act shall be used only 
for the purpose of planting and cultivating oysters ; 

Second: Residents of this State shall have the right 
to crab or fish upon all leased areas, provided they do not 
remove or destroy oysters thereon ; 

Third : No right shall exist to redeem or purchase any 
land of the State so leased ; 

Fourth: Any other modification caused by the pro- 
visions of this act. 

108. Marking Leased Lot. The Commissioners shall 
at once notify the lessee of the record in the register re- 
quired by Section 106, and the lessee shall, as soon there- 



48 

after as practicable, not exceeding thirty days from the 
receipt of said notice, cause the ground designated as 
leased to him to be plainly marked out by stakes, buoys or 
monuments, under the supervision of the Commissioners. 
At least four of such stakes, buoys or monuments shall 
have the initials of the lessee plainly marked upon them, 
and such stakes, buoys or monuments shall be at all times 
during the existence of said lease continued by the said 
lessee or his legal representative. 

109. Areas Excluded. This act is not intended to 
apply to any lands owned by private persons, the bounds 
of which extend below low water into or beneath the waters 
of this State. This act shall not be so construed as to 
apply to any creek, cove or inlet, less than one hundred 
yards in width at its mouth at low tide. 

110. Lots Taken up Before Passage of Act of 1906 
to Be Exchanged for Leases Thereunder. (Text omitted, 
see Code.) 

111. Lessee's Title to Oysters. The lessee of any 
land leased for the purpose of planting and cultivating 
oysters shall have exclusive ownership of and title to all 
oysters planted by him or existing on the land leased. 

112. Assignment of Leases; Restrictions. No as- 
signment or transfer of any interest acquired by this act 
shall be valid for any purpose if made to a non-resident 
of this State. If any such assignment is attempted to be 
made, all interest of the grantor, or assignor, shall revert 
to the State as if no lease. had ever been made. If any 
assignment of any interest created by this act is attempted 
to be made to any corporation, or joint stock company, all 
the interest of the grantor or assignor shall revert to the 
State as if no lease had ever been made. If any assign- 
ment or any interest created by this act is attempted to 
be made to any person in such a way that the assignee 
shall become the holder of more than thirty acres, one 
hundred acres, or five hundred acres, as the case may be, 
according to the location of land leased under this act, 
all interest of the grantor or assignor, in case of such an 



49 

assignment, shall revert to the State, as if no lease had 
been made. 

113. Seed Oysters. It shall be lawful for any tonger 
between the 15th day of April and the 15th day of May 
in any year to take oysters from such natural beds or bars 
in the tonging districts of the Chesapeake Bay and its 
tributaries as the Commission may mark out for that pur- 
pose, and under such regulations as said Commission may 
from time to time prescribe; provided, however, that said 
oysters may be sold only for the purpose now permitted 
under existing laws of Maryland, during the season of 
the year above mentioned, and in addition thereto, to per- 
sons engaged in the industry of planting and cultivating 
oysters within the area designated by this act, the same 
to be delivered only upon lands which may have been 
leased under the provisions of this act for such purposes 
of planting or cultivating. 

114. Lessee May Dredge for Oysters; Dredger's 
License Required ; Restrictions. No person shall catch 
or take oysters with dredge or similar instrument on any 
land held by lease under the provisions of this act without 
first having obtained a license therefor in the same manner 
as is now required by law for dredging oysters on the 
natural bars in the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. No 
steamer or power boat of any kind shall be used or em- 
ployed in catching or taking oysters in the waters of the 
State with scoop, scrape, dredge or similar instrument; 
and the captain of any boat engaged in taking oysters by 
any of the above mentioned methods, who shall have on 
his boat any engine or motor of any kind, whether at- 
tached to said boat or not, which is adapted to or can be 
used in propulsion of said boat, shall be guilty of a mis- 
demeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not 
less than fifty dollars, nor more than two hundred dollars. 
Oysters may be taken in the Chesapeake Bay and its 
tributaries and all other waters of the State on leased bot- 
toms by the holders of such leased bottoms by dredging, 
scraping or tonging with boats propelled by oars or sails 
only, at such time as may be desired by the holders of such 



50 

land, between sunrise and sunset of any week day, be- 
tween the fifteenth day of September in any year and the 
fifteenth day of June in the following year. It is, however, 
specially provided that it shall be unlawful for any holder 
of land under this act to take up oysters from the land 
so held by him during the closed season for the dredging 
of oysters from the natural bars of this State, until after 
he has given a written notice of his intention so to do, 
to the official in charge of the nearest police boat, in which 
notice he shall name the week day or week days, and the 
hours between sunrise and sunset of such week or week 
days in such closed season, during which he may intend to 
take oysters from such land, and it shall be unlawful for 
the holder of any such land to take up oysters from the 
land held by him at any other times than those named in 
such notice. (Penalties omitted, see Code.) 

114-A. Dredging by Lessees upon Natural Bars or 
Neutral Zones Prohibited; Penalties. (Text omitted, 
see Code.) 

115. Interference with Lessee's Oysters or Buoys; 
Penalties. Any person who shall wilfully and without 
authority take or remove oysters from any land leased 
under the provisions of this act, or shall wilfully injure or 
interfere with the oysters on such land in any manner, or 
injure the oysters thereupon situated, or remove, alter or 
interfere with the stakes, buoys or monuments marking 
the same, shall, upon conviction thereof, for the first 
offense, be sentenced to imprisonment in jail or in the 
penitentiary, in the discretion of the court, for not less 
than three months and not more than two years, and for 
the second, or any subsequent offense, be sentenced to 
imprisonment in the penitentiary for not less than two 
years and not more than five years. 

116. Trespassers Catching Oysters on Leased Areas; 
Penalties. Any person who shall work a dredge, scrape 
or pair of tongs, or any other implement for the taking of 
oysters upon any land leased under the provisions of this 
act without the consent of the lessee or owner, or who 



51 

shall, while upon or sailing' over any such ground or bed, 
cast, haul or have overboard any such dredge, scrape or 
pair of tongs, or other implement for the taking of oysters, 
under any pretense or for any purpose whatever, without 
the consent of such lessee or owner, upon conviction thereof, 
shall, for the first offense, be fined not less than fifty dol- 
lars nor more than two hundred and fifty dollars, in the 
discretion of the court, be imprisoned in jail or in the 
penitentiary for not less than three months nor more than 
one year, or shall be both fined and imprisoned, and for the 
second, or any subsequent offense, shall be sentenced to im- 
prisonment in the penitentiary for not less than two years 
nor more than five years. 

117. Interference with State Buoys Prohibited. Any 
person who shall make his boat fast to a State buoy, or re- 
move the same, or in any manner interfere therewith, the 
same shall, in the discretion of the court, upon conviction 
thereof, be sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of 
not less than one year nor more than two years. 

117- A. Appropriation op Barren Bottoms Not Leased 
Prohibited ; Exception. It shall be unlawful for any per- 
son other than a lessee under this act, or for any lessee 
under this act, while he shall be in default in payment 
of rent, to appropriate to himself for any purpose any 
of the barren bottoms under the waters of this State, 
which are, by provisions of this act, subject to lease, or 
to use such barren bottoms in any way for the purpose 
of bedding, planting or cultivating oysters. (Penalties 
omitted, see Code.) Provided, however, that this section 
shall not apply to the temporary deposit of oysters at the 
owner's risk upon any of the barren bottoms of this State 
not leased, if such oysters are removed by the owner within 
three months from the time of such deposit. 



52 



Part IV— RESERVED AREAS. 

(Code, Article 72.) 

132. Certain Depleted Natural Bars May Be Reserved 
for Cultivation. The Commander of the State Fishery 
Force is hereby authorized to select and reserve for oyster 
conservation, as provided in this sub-title, any portion or 
portions of the natural beds, bars and rocks located along 
the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay between the lower 
end of Holland Point Bar Rock and Pungy Harbor Rock. 
The commander shall give notice of said reservation by 
advertisement to be inserted once a week for three suc- 
cessive weeks in a newspaper published in Baltimore City, 
Anne Arundel County and Calvert County, respectively, 
which advertisement shall describe the area reserved and 
give the date on which the reservation takes effect, and shall 
warn all persons not to catch or disturb oysters upon such 
reserved area until further notice from the commander 
reopening same for public use. Whenever in the discretion 
of the commander such reserved area shall have been re- 
plenished, but in no event later than three years after the 
beginning of such reservation, he shall fix a date for re- 
opening same to the public, and shall give notice thereof 
by proper advertisement inserted as above provided. Any 
person who shall catch or disturb any oysters upon such 
reserved areas between the date such reservation begins and 
the date fixed by the commander for reopening same, shall 
be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof 
shall be imprisoned in jail or in the House of Correction 
for not less than three months, nor more than one year, 
in the discretion of the court. 

133. Removal of Seed Oysters ; Certificate. Any resi- 
dent of this State holding a dredger's or scraper's license 
for the past season may make application to the Com- 
mander of the State Fishery Force at his office in Annapolis 
for a permit to catch and remove seed oysters, at any time 
between March 15th and April 30th, or between October 
1st and October 25th, in each year, from any bottoms (not 



58 

leased) of the Chesapeake Bay, north of a straight line 
drawn from Bodkin Point on the Western Shore to the 
lower or southernmost end of Hodges Bar Rock, not less 
than one mile and a half, above Swann Point, on the East- 
ern Shore. The commander may issue such permit, and 
shall describe therein the particular portion of said bot- 
toms from which seed oysters are to be taken, and shall 
fix the manner and the time for catching same. The per- 
son holding such permit shall transport all seed oysters 
caught by him directly to such reserved areas within the 
limits prescribed in Section 132, as may be designated 
by the commander, and there transplant same in the pres- 
ence of a deputy commander of the State Fishery Force, 
whose duty it shall be to see that such seed oysters are 
transplanted in a proper manner and upon the designated 
areas. The deputy commander shall thereupon issue a cer- 
tificate to the person so transplanting seed oysters, which 
shall state as accurately as possible the number of bushels 
transplanted, and shall be serially numbered and sub- 
stantially in the form following: 

19.... 

I hereby certify that Captain , 

of the vessel, , has this day trans- 
planted upon reserved area located at , 

a cargo of seed oysters estimated to contain bushels. 

Deputy Commander. 
A duplicate of each certificate so issued shall be for- 
warded by the deputy commander to the Comptroller of 
the State Treasury. The expense of catching, removing 
and transplanting such seed oysters as herein authorized 
shall be borne by the person to whom such permit and cer- 
tificate shall have been issued, provided, however, that 
such expense, not exceeding five cents per bushel, shall 
be reimbursed to him, or his assigns, by the Comptroller, 
upon presentation and surrender of his certificate, out 
of the "Oyster Conservation (now Conservation) Fund," 
provided for by Section 135. The commander may act for 
any deputy commander in the performance of the duties 
above mentioned. 



54 

134. Conditions and Restrictions ; Special Tax ; Pen- 
alties. From and after the date designated by the com- 
mander for reopening of such reserved areas, until the 
closing of the dredging season then current, oysters shall 
be caught upon such reserved areas only by dredgers, 
scrapers or tongers of the State holding licenses for the 
current season, in the manner now prescribed by law, 
and subject also to the following special conditions and 
restrictions, viz: 

(1.) Oysters caught upon reserved areas shall be sub- 
ject to a special charge or tax of five cents per bushel, 
which shall be collected by the buyers at the place where 
said oysters are to be no further shipped in bulk in vessels, 
and shall be paid weekly to the Comptroller or his agent 
by the buyers, such tax to be in addition to any other 
charge on oysters now or hereafter imposed by law, and 
payment thereof to be enforced in the same manner as 
the inspection tax provided for by Section 70 of said 
Article 72. The deputy commander shall sign in triplicate 
certificates serially numbered and substantially in the form 
following : 

19.... 

I hereby certify that the cargo of oysters loaded by 

Captain , of the vessel 

, was taken from reserved 

areas and is subject to a tax of five cents per bushel, which 
is to be paid to the Comptroller or his agent. 

Deputy Commander. 

The copies of each certificate so issued shall be given the 
captain of the vessel in which oysters are to be transported 
from such reserved areas, one of which shall be retained 
and the other shall be delivered to the ultimate buyer of 
said oysters as hereinafter stated. The third copy shall 
be forwarded by the deputy commander to the office of the 
Comptroller. 

(2.) Oysters caught upon reserved areas shall not be 
removed therefrom until the deputy commander in charge 
thereof shall have issued said certificates, as above pro- 
vided. 



55 



(3.) Said oysters shall be inspected and measured at 
the place of sale where the oysters are to be no further 
shipped in bulk in vessels, and before unloading the cap- 
tain of each vessel shall exhibit and deliver to the buyer 
one of the certificates furnished by the deputy commander, 
showing that such cargo of oysters is subject to the tax 
of five cents per bushel. Such oysters shall be unloaded 
only in the presence of an inspector, whose duty it shall 
be to inspect, measure and report upon such oysters to 
the Comptroller, in the same manner as upon other oysters 
sold in this State. 

(4.) Oysters caught upon reserved areas shall not be 
shipped out of the State of Maryland until the charge or 
tax of five cents per bushel shall have been paid. 

(5.) Oysters caught upon reserved areas shall be culled 
in accordance with the existing law relating to culling, 
and the undersized oysters shall be returned to the nat- 
ural bars from which the same were taken. 

(6.) Before any oysters are caught upon such reserved 
areas, the captain of each vessel shall take out a special 
license from the Comptroller, at a cost of $1.00 per vessel, 
such license to be issued only after the captain of such 
vessel has taken an oath before the Comptroller, or his 
agent, that he will not remove oysters caught upon such 
reserved areas until the deputy commander's certificate 
in the form above provided, has been issued to him, that 
he will faithfully comply with all provisions of law regu- 
lating the catching of oysters upon reserved areas, and 
that he will pay, or cause to be paid, the tax of five cents 
per bushel upon all such oysters so caught by him. 

Catching oysters upon such reserved areas shall con- 
tinue subject^ to the foregoing conditions and restrictions 
during the remainder of the oyster season current at the 
time the commander reopens same, as above provided. 
Thereafter the said areas shall be thrown open to public 
use in the same manner as other natural beds and bars 
are now used, unless the said areas are again set aside for 
replenishing, in accordance with the provisions of this 
sub-title. Any person who shall catch oysters upon such 



56 

reserved areas contrary to the provisions, conditions and 
restrictions of this section, shall be guilty of a misde- 
meanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be imprisoned in 
jail or in the House of Correction, for not less than three 
months, nor more than one year in the discretion of the 
court. 

135. Disposition of Special Tax. The Comptroller of 
the State Treasury shall pass the amount of the special 
charge or tax of five cents per bushel, provided for by 
this sub-title, to the credit of a fund to be known as the 
"Oyster Conservation (now Conservation) Fund." This 
fund shall be drawn upon only for reimbursing to per- 
sons holding the deputy commander's certificates, the ex- 
pense of catching, removing and transplanting seed oysters, 
not to exceed five cents per bushel; and any excess there- 
after remaining may be used by the commander for pur- 
chasing oyster shells or obtaining other seed oysters, to 
be transplanted under the direction of the commander 
upon such areas within the location mentioned in Section 
133, as may be hereafter set apart by him for that purpose. 

136. Protection Reserved Areas. The Commander of 
the State Fishery Force shall assign one or more boats of 
the force to guard areas reserved under the provisions of 
this sub-title, and to supervise the taking of oysters there- 
from. The said boat or boats shall remain on guard 
throughout each oyster season in which the reservation of 
such areas continues ; and when such areas are reopened 
for public use, it shall be the duty of the deputy com- 
mander of the said boat or boats to prevent oysters caught 
upon such areas from being removed contrary to the pro- 
visions of this sub-title, and to arrest all violators of such 
provisions. 

137. Extensions. It shall be the duty of the Com- 
mander of the State Fishery Force to report in detail to 
the General Assembly of Maryland concerning the pro- 
gress of the work under this sub-title for replenishing the 
natural beds, bars and rocks, such report to be printed 
and submitted immediately prior to the convening of said 



57 

Assembly in each of the years 1916 and 1918, to the end 
that the system of replenishing natural beds, bars and 
rocks may, if successful, be extended to other localities of 
this State. 



58 



Part V— CONCURRENT LAW, MARYLAND AND VIR- 
GINIA, RELATING TO OYSTERS, FISH AND 
CRABS IN POTOMAC RIVER. 
(Code, Article 72.) 

68-A. Rights of Citizens of Maryland and Virginia. 
It shall be lawful for any citizen of the State of Mary- 
land, or the State of Virginia, to take fish, oysters or 
crabs from the Potomac River after complying with the 
requirements of the laws of the State of which he is a 
citizen for the taking of fish, oysters or crabs from the 
waters of such State; and any citizen of either State who 
takes fish, oysters or crabs from the Potomac River with- 
out having complied with the requirements of the law of 
his State as to the taking of fish, oysters or crabs in its 
own waters, shall be considered guilty of violating the laws 
of the State of which he is a citizen, and shall be prosecuted 
according to such laws. It shall not be lawful for any per- 
son to take or catch fish, oysters or crabs in any manner 
whatever in the waters of the Potomac River unless he be 
a citizen of Maryland or of Virginia, and shall have been 
a resident of the State of which he is a citizen for twelve 
months immediately preceding. Any such non-resident 
violating this section shall be subject to a fine of five hun- 
dred dollars ; furthermore, any vessel, with its equipment 
and cargo, or any net or other appliances used in violating 
this section, shall be deemed forfeited to the State. 

68-B. Closed Season for Catching Oysters. It shall 
not be lawful for any citizen of Maryland, or of Virginia, 
to take or catch oysters with a scoop, scrape, dredge, or any 
other instrument in the waters of the Potomac River be- 
tween the fifteenth day of March and the first day of 
November of each year; it shall not be lawful for any 
citizen of either State to take oysters with tongs from the 
waters of the Potomac River between the twenty-fifth day 
of April and the fifteenth day of September of each year, 
except as hereinafter provided in Section 68-D; it shall 
not be lawful for any person to have in possession any 



59 

oysters taken from the waters of the Potomac River be- 
tween the first day of May and the fifteenth day of Sep- 
tember of each year. Every person found guilty of vio- 
lating any of the provisions of this section shall be fined 
not less than fifty dollars nor more than five hundred dol- 
lars for each offense, and the vessel, together with its equip- 
ment and cargo used in violating any such provisions, shall 
be forfeited to the State. 

68-C. Culling Oysters. All oysters taken from any 
natural rocks, beds or shoals within the Potomac River 
shall be culled on their natural rocks, beds or shoals as 
taken, and oysters whose shells measure less than two and 
one-half inches in length, measuring from hinge to mouth, 
and all shells shall be included in said culling and re- 
placed on said rocks, beds or shoals ; provided, that oysters 
once passed from the culler less than the prohibited size 
and all shells shall be considered as not having been culled 
according to the provisions of this section ; provided, that 
when small oysters are adhering so closely to the shell of 
a marketable oyster as to render removal impossible with- 
out destroying the small oyster, then it shall be necessary 
to remove it. And it shall be unlawful for any person to 
take, buy or sell the small oysters and shells from the nat- 
ural rocks, beds and shoals as aforesaid, or to take, buy, 
sell or have in possession oysters less than two and one- 
half inches in length from hinge to mouth. Inspectors or 
other officers to examine cargo, and arrest boat captain 
where over five per cent, unmerchantable ; penalties ; cargo 
to be returned to bed or bar where caught. (For full text, 
see Code.) Provided, that this section shall not apply 
to that portion of the Potomac River above a straight line 
drawn from the north point at the mouth of Upper Macho- 
doc Creek, in the County of King George, Virginia, to 
Lower Cedar Point, in Charles County, Maryland. 

68-D. Seed Oysters. It shall be lawful, between the 
first day of January and the first day of May of each year, 
to take oysters of any size with ordinary or patent oyster 
tongs from the natural rocks, beds and shoals in the 
Potomac River above a straight line drawn from the north 



60 

point at the mouth of Upper Machodoc Creek, in the 
County of King George, Virginia, to Lower Cedar Point, 
in Charles County, Maryland, to be used for planting in 
the waters of Maryland or Virginia only ; but it shall be 
unlawful at any time to take shells to which no oyster is 
attached, or to take oysters from said waters at any other 
time, or in any other manner, or for any other purpose, 
than as above provided. Any person convicted of taking 
shells as aforesaid, or of taking oysters from the Potomac 
River above the said line at any other time or in any other 
manner than with oyster tongs, or for any other purpose 
as aforesaid, shall be fined not less than one hundred 
dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, or confined 
in jail not less than thirty days nor more than six months, 
either or both. Any citizen of Maryland, or of Virginia, 
who has complied with all the requirements of the oyster 
laws of his State entitling him to the privilege for a cer- 
tain period of taking and catching oysters with ordinary 
or patent tongs in such State, shall have the right without 
further license tax to take oysters with such tongs above 
the said line during the open season provided for in the 
waters above said line. 

68-E. Permit for Catching Seed Oysters; How Ob- 
tained ; Oath Required ; Penalties. Special permits must 
be obtained from inspector or police boat officers of Mary- 
land or Virginia, for each vessel catching seed oysters, 
whose master shall make oath that oysters are to be used 
only for planting in Maryland or Virginia. Carrying 
seed oysters out of said two States prohibited under heavy 
penalty. (For full text, see Code.) 

68-F. Punishment of Offenders; Examination and 
Arrest. All offenses committed against the provisions of 
this act by persons not citizens and residents of either 
State may be punished by any of the magistrates or courts 
of either State having criminal jurisdiction; all offenses 
committed against the provisions of this act by citizens of 
either State shall be punished by any of the magistrates 
or courts of the State of which he is a citizen having crim- 
inal jurisdiction. 



61 

The authorities of either State shall have the right to 
examine into the right of any person taking' fish, oysters 
or crabs in the Potomac River, or having same in his pos- 
session; and any person taking fish, oysters or crabs in 
the Potomac River, or having same in his possession, shall 
exhibit his authority for so doing whenever required by 
the police or other legal authority of either State. The 
legal authorities of either State shall have the right to ar- 
rest any such offender, and, if necessary in order to arrest, 
shall pursue such offenders beyond the boundary line of 
either State upon navigable waters, and arrest such 
offender whenever found upon such waters. 

68-G. Penalties ; Forfeitures ; Appeal. (Text omitted, 
see Code.) 

68-H. Penalty for Failure to Report Violations. If 
any oyster inspector, or other officer empowered with the 
duties of enforcing the provisions of this act, knowingly 
fail to report violations of the same, or to perform any 
of the duties herein required of him, he shall, for every 
such offense, be liable to a fine of one hundred dollars, 
to be applied to the oyster fund of his State. 

59-B (Art. 39.) Regulations for Fishing and Crabbing 
in Potomac. Any citizen of Maryland or Virginia desiring 
to fish for market or profit with a pound net, fyke net, 
gill net, haul seine, sturgeon net, skirt net, weir or other 
device in the waters of the Potomac River, shall first apply 
to the regularly constituted officer, as determined by the 
laws or regulations of the State of which he is a resident, 
and in the district or locality in which said applicant re- 
sides, except that the applicant for license to fish with the 
fixed device shall apply to the officer of the district or 
locality in which such fixed device is proposed to be located 
for a license, and state on oath the true name or names 
of the person or persons applying for said license; that 
they are and have been for twelve months next preceding 
residents of the State in which such application has been 
made ; the place at which the net, seine, fyke, weir or other 
device is to be fished, and that during the period of the 



62 

license he will not violate any of the laws of the State 
in which he resides in relation to the taking and catching 
of fish ; provided, nothing in this section shall apply to any 
person using a net solely for the purpose of supplying his 
own table. Such oyster inspector or other authorized offi- 
cer shall thereupon grant license to use such net or other 
device, and state in such license the name or names of the 
person or persons who shall use the same, the place at 
which it is to be located or used, the season for which 
said license is granted, which season shall begin on the 
first day of February in any year and end on the thirty- 
first day of January of the year following, and the amount 
of tax as prescribed by the laws of the State where issued. 

Any citizen of either Maryland or Virginia desiring to 
take or catch crabs from the waters of the Potomac River 
by any method, or any person desiring to engage in the 
business of buying crabs for picking or canning or shipping 
the same, shall pay to the oyster inspector or other desig- 
nated official in the district in which he resides such spe- 
cific license tax as is prescribed by the State of which he 
is a resident. 

If any person shall use or set, or cause to be used or set, 
any such net or seine as aforesaid, or shall take or catch 
crabs in the waters of the Potomac River within the juris- 
diction of the State of Maryland or Virginia without hav- 
ing first paid the tax and obtained the license provided for 
under the laws of the State in which such_ net is set or 
crabs are taken, he shall be deemed guilty of a violation 
of the provisions of this section, and shall, for each such 
violation, be fined not less than ten dollars nor more than 
two hundred dollars, and shall forfeit to the State such 
net or other fishing devices used in said violations. 

It shall be unlawful for any person to use a haul seine 
or pound net, head or pocket having a smaller mesh than 
two inches, stretched measure, for the purpose of catching 
food fish. Any net having a funnel mouth, round mouth, 
br square mouth, with head above water, shall be con- 
strued as a pound net. Any person or persons using a 



63 

net in violation of this provision shall be fined not less 
than ten dollars nor more than one hundred dollars for 
each offense, and such net or nets shall be forfeited to the 
State. 

Boundary Line, Maryland- Virginia. By joint resolu- 
tion No. 5, which appears in the Acts of 1916 at page 1678, 
the Conservation Commission of Maryland as successor to 
the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners and the Com- 
mander of the State Oyster Navy are "authorized and 
directed to mark and maintain with buoys placed at inter- 
vals of not more than one mile apart the line between the 
waters of the State of Maryland and the waters of the 
State of Virginia from Cedar Straits in Pocomoke Sound 
to Williams Point in Pocomoke River." 



64 



p ART VI— FISH AND FISHERIES. 

(Code, Article 39.) 

HEAD OF BAY. 

1. Season for Catching Herring and Shad in Chesa- 
peake Bay. No person except resident citizens of this 
State shall fix, set or stake out any sort of gill nets, either 
stationary or floating, or any device whatever, for the 
taking of herring and shad in the Chesapeake Bay at any 
time between the first of March and the first of June 
in each year ; and any person so offending shall forfeit the 
vessel and tackle used in such fishing, and all the nets, 
apparatus and devices for taking fish, and also pay a fine 
of fifty dollars for each offense. 

2. Seine or Drag Nets; When and Where Pro- 
hibited. No person shall, from the tenth day of June to 
the first day of October in each year, fish with hauling 
seine or drag-net of any kind within the Chesapeake Bay 
or any of its tributaries lying northward of the following 
line, viz: Beginning at Still Pond, in Kent County, and 
drawn westward to Lego's Point, in Harford County. 

3. Purse Nets Prohibited Above Certain Lines. No 
person shall at any time be allowed to fish with purse- nets 
at any point in the Chesapeake Bay above or north of 
a line drawn east from Robin's Point, on the Western 
Shore, to Handy 's Point, on the Eastern Shore of Mary- 
land. 

4. Purse Net Licenses. No person shall fish with 
purse or buck nets within the State of Maryland south of 
the line drawn from the line aforesaid due east to the East- 
ern Shore without first obtaining a license so to do from the 
Comptroller of the Treasury, and then only from June 15th 
to November 1st of each year, and the applicant shall pay 
the sum of twenty-five dollars for each and every purse 
or buck net owned and operated by him, whereupon the said 



65 

Comptroller shall issue to such applicant a license or licenses 
to operate such purse or buck nets ; and all monies arising 
from said licenses shall be paid into the State Treasury for 
the maintenance of the State Oyster Navy ; and any person 
failing to procure such license and violating the provisions 
of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, 
and on conviction thereof shall be subject to the fines and 
penalties imposed by Section 5 of this article and to the 
penalties imposed by the statutes of Maryland for failure 
to procure licenses wherever required by law. It shall 
be unlawful to use a purse or buck net with a mesh less than 
three inches for the catching of food fish, and no license 
shall be issued by the Comptroller of the Treasury for 
the use of a purse or buck net with a mesh less than three 
inches, and unless the steam or sail boats used in connec- 
tion with purse or buck nets have been owned by bona fide 
residents of the State of Maryland twelve months before 
the issuing of said license. Notwithstanding anything 
herein to the contrary, no one shall be permitted to use 
purse or buck nets in Chester River or any of the tribu- 
taries of the Chesapeake Bay within the limits of Balti- 
more, Queen Anne's, Anne Arundel, Harford or Cecil 
Counties. It shall be unlawful to use a purse net within 
one mile of the shores of Harford County, exclusive of 
Poole's Island. 

5-6. Penalties and Forfeitures for Violation of 
Above Sections. (Text omitted, see Code.) 

7-8. Fish Stakes or Poles in Upper Bay and Certain 
Rivers Prohibited; Penalties. (Text omitted, see Code.) 

9-11. Prohibits Anchoring Vessel in Any Fishery 
in Upper Bay; Penalties; Forfeitures. (Text omitted, 
see Code.) 

12. Prohibits Vessels Sailing Through Seines ; Dam- 
ages; Penalties. (Text omitted, see code.) 

13-14. Prohibits Floats Being Anchored so as to 

INTERFERE WlTH SHORE FISHERY ; REGULATES HAULING 

Seine from Floats ; Penalties. (Text omitted ; see Code.) 



66 
PAT AP SCO. 

15. Fish Ladders in Patapsco. The owners of all dams 
on the Patapsco River are required to make and keep, or 
cause to be made and kept, in repair proper fish ladders 
and have them placed on said dams, so as to afford to the 
fish in said river free course up and down said river. 

16-17. Penalties for Violation of Above Section; 
Appeal. (Text omitted, see Code.) 

SEVERN RIVER. 

Act 1916, Chapter 581. Unlawful to fish in Severn 
River or any tributary thereof with seine, net, weir or 
other implement or instrument, except hook and line. Pen- 
alty, $20-$100. Line from Greenbury Point to Horn Point 
marks mouth of Severn, for this law. 

PATUXENT. 

18. Restrictions on Fishing in Patuxent River and 
Tributaries; Provisos. It shall not be lawful for any 
persons, other than bona fide resident citizens of Prince 
George's, Charles, St. Mary's and Calvert Counties, to take 
or catch fish in the waters of the Patuxent River and tribu- 
taries, with any seine, weir trap or other device, excepting 
only the hook and line ; provided, that the provisions of 
this section shall not apply to such as shall obtain per- 
mission from the owners of the lands bordering on said 
waters to fish off and opposite their land or lands so bor- 
dering on said waters ; and provided, that none other than 
Dona fide resident citizens of said counties shall use, in any 
of the waters of said river that bind on Prince George's, 
Charles and Calvert Counties above the village known as 
Benedict, any seine, weir, or net more than seventy fathoms 
long and less than two inches square in the mesh. 

19. Emptying Seines upon Beach Prohibited. It 
shall not be lawful for any person to empty his seines upon 
the beach so as to leave the smaller fish to perish, but he 



67 

shall empty the same in water of sufficient depth to enable 
such smaller fish to return to the waters for growth and 
maturity. 

20. Penalties for Violating Two Preceding Sec- 
tions. (Text omitted, see Code.) 

21. Restrictions; Seine Hauling Patuxent River. 
It shall not be lawful for any persons, except bona fide 
residents of St. Mary's, Anne Arundel, Charles, Calvert 
and Prince George's Counties, to haul in the waters of the 
Patuxent River, between Sheriden's Point and Point 
Patience, any seine of greater length than sixty fathoms at 
any time between the first day of June and the first day 
of October following. 

22. Penalties for Violation of Above Section. (Text 
omitted, see Code.) 

23. Further Regulations; Patuxent River. No per- 
son shall stake down any seine or net entirely across the 
Patuxent River for the purpose of taking shad or herring ; 
nor shall any person whip, thresh or beat the waters of 
the Patuxent River with poles or any other instrument 
for the purpose of driving any fish within any seine or 
net; nor shall any person, except bona fide residents of 
Prince George's, Charles, St. Mary's, Anne Arundel and 
Calvert Counties, in fishing in the said river, between the 
fifth day of March and the fifteenth day of May, use any 
seine or net with meshes of less than one and one-half 
of an inch square ; or during the rest of the year with any 
seine or net with meshes of a less size than two inches 
square; and no person shall empty any seine except in 
water twelve inches deep ; and any person violating this 
section shall be subject to the fine and forfeiture provided 
in Section 20. 

24. Prohibits Anchorage Near Fishing Shore in 
Patuxent. No vessel, float, raft or boat of any descrip- 
tion, unless compelled to do so by stress of weather or other 
unavoidable accident, shall be anchored or stayed in the 
birth or haul of any regularly-hauled fishing shore in the 



68 

Patuxent River and remain thus anchored for the space of 
half an hour when the weather will permit the departure 
of such vessel, raft, float or boat after being warned to 
depart therefrom by the owner or occupant of said fishery. 

25-26. Penalties and Fines for Violation of Above 
Two Sections. (Text omitted, see Code.) 

27. Vessels Sailing Through Seine; Penalties. If 
any such vessel, float or boat shall be wilfully, wantonly 
and maliciously, or from gross negligence, sailed through 
any seine extended in any of said fisheries, the skipper, 
captain or other person commanding such vessel, float or 
boat shall pay to the owner or holder of such seine not 
less than twenty nor more than one hundred dollars, at the 
discretion of the justice of the peace trying the case. 

28. Obstructions to Fishery. If any person shall wil- 
fully and maliciously put any stake, log, stone, ballast or 
other obstruction in the berth or haul of any fishery, he 
shall pay a fine not less than twenty nor more than one 
hundred dollars, at the discretion of the justice of the 
peace trying the case. 

29. Further Regulations; Fishing in Patuxent. It 
shall not be lawful for any person, persons, corporation or 
corporations to set, place, construct or use any pound net, 
fyke net, trap net, sunken net or staked net of any kind, 
or any device of any kinds or description now known or 
hereafter to be invested for trapping or catching fish in 
any part of the Patuxent River from Queen Anne Bridge 
on said river down said river to a straight line drawn 
across the mouth of said river from Drum Point Light 
House, in Calvert County, to Hog Point, in St. Mary's 
County, nearer than 500 yards in every direction from 
any other net or device above mentioned or of the total 
length of any net or device above mentioned of more than 
175 yards in length, including the leaders or hedges or 
wings thereof, below a straight line from Truman's Point 
Wharf, across said river, to a point on the shore directly 
opposite said wharf, or of a total length of more than 50 
yards in said river above said straight line from Truman's 



69 

Point Wharf or at a greater distance across the waters 
above mentioned from low water mark on either side ; and 
be it further provided that whenever the word net, or the 
word device, is mentioned in this section it shall be held 
to include the leader or leaders, or hedge or hedges, or 
wing or wings, of said net or device; provided, however, 
that this section shall not apply to catching fish with hook 
and line, floating gill nets, purse nets or seines. 

30. Size of Mesh. It shall be unlawful to use or haul 
any seine or gill net or purse net in any part of said river 
with a smaller mesh than that prescribed in Section 23 of 
this article, or at any other time than prescribed by said 
Section 23 or in any creek or tributary of said river less 
than two hundred feet wide at its mouth. 

31. Purse Seines Prohibited; Exception. It shall 
not be lawful for any person to catch or take fish in the 
Patuxent River or any of its tributaries with purse seines, 
except for food purposes. 

32. Permits. Any person wishing to catch or take 
fish in the Patuxent River with purse seines for food pur- 
poses shall make application to a justice of the peace in 
the county in which he resides for a permit and shall make 
oath before said justice of the peace that he is a resident 
of said county and does not intend to catch fish for the 
purpose of manufacturing into fertilizer or to put upon 
the land in a raw state, and all person or persons making 
a false oath shall be deemed guilty of perjury and subject 
to the penalty provided in case of perjury. 

33-35. Arrest of Offenders; Forfeitures; Trial; 

Penalty. (Text omitted; see Code.) 

POTOMAC. 

36. Shad and Herring Season in Potomac. The fishing 
season for shad and herring in the waters of the Potomac 
River shall begin the fifteenth day of March and end the 
first day of June in each year. 



70 

37. Penalty. If any person shall haul, drift, anchor 
or stake in the Potomac River, or any of its tributaries in 
the State, any gill nets or seine of any description (except 
those commonly called market seines for summer and win- 
ter fish, and sturgeon nets with eight-inch meshes), at 
any time not within the period fixed by the preceding 
section, he shall forfeit all the boats, seines and fixtures 
then in his possession and be fined for each offense not 
less than fifty nor more than one hundred dollars. 

38. Regulations for Hauling Seine. No person shall 
haul, drift or fish any seine or gill nets within the water 
bounds or berths of any regularly hauled fishing landing, 
nor opposite to any part of the shore of the owner or 
occupier of any such landing, within hauling distance 
from such shore, between the fifteenth day of March and 
the first day of June in each year, without the permission 
of the owner or occupier of such fishing landing; and any 
person so offending shall be subject to the forfeiture and 
fine prescribed by the preceding section. 

39. Arrest of Offenders. The owners or occupiers of 
the regularly hauled fishing landings are authorized to 
render any sheriff or other officer assistance necessary to 
arrest any person violating any of the provisions of the 
two preceding sections; and the said officer shall seize all 
boats, seine and fixtures in possession of such person, and 
carry the person so arrested before some justice of the 
peace, to be dealt with as herein directed; and the said 
officer may summons the posse comitatus to aid him in 
making arrest or seizure authorized by this section ; and 
may for that purpose also press, at the expense of the 
State, any steamboat or other vessel belonging to any 
citizen of this State not actually engaged in carrying the 
United States mail. 

40. Season for Catching Bass in Potomac. It shall 
not be lawful for any person to catch or kill any black 
bass, green bass, rock bass, pike or pickerel or wall- 
eyed pike (commonly known as salmon), between the 
fifteenth day of April and the first day of June of each 



71 

year; nor catch or kill any of said species of fish at any 
other time during the year, save only with rod, hook and 
line or dip-net. The words "hook and line" shall not in- 
clude trot-line or out-lines. This section is not applicable 
to Montgomery County. 

41-2. Penalties; Where Applicable. (Text omitted, 
see Code.) 

43. Tributaries of Potomac. It shall not be lawful 
for any person to catch or kill any black bass, green bass, 
pike or pickerel or wall-eyed pike (commonly known as 
salmon) in the tributaries of the Potomac River between 
the fifteenth day of April and the first day of June of 
each year, nor catch or kill any of said species of fish 
at any other time during the year save only with a rod, 
hook and line or dip-net. 

44. Penalty. Any person violating the provisions of 
Section 43 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be 
punishable, on conviction, by imprisonment in the county 
jail not exceeding six months, or by a fine not exceeding 
two hundred dollars, or by fine and imprisonment. 

45. Localities Exempt. The provisions of Sections 43 
and 44 shall not be applicable below Little Falls, near 
Washington, and shall not apply to that part of the waters 
of the Monocacy River and its tributaries lying in Crea- 
gerstown and Woodsboro Districts, Frederick County, and 
Middlebury District, in Carroll County, from the bridge 
over the Monocacy River on the turnpike road leading 
from Woodsboro to Creagerstown, in Frederick County, 
to the head of the Monocacy River and its tributaries. 

46. Obstructing Fisheries Prohibited. If any person 
shall, during the months of March, April, May and June, 
place any boat, vessel or other obstruction or hindrance in 
the way of laying out or hauling any seine used in any 
lawful fishery on said river or its tributaries, or otherwise 
obstruct or hinder such laying out or hauling, and he or 
his agents shall fail or refuse forthwith to remove such ob- 



struction or hindrance on being required to do so by the 
person so obstructed or hindered, he shall pay a fine of 
not less than twenty nor more than one hundred dollars. 

47. Penalties for Violating Above Section. (Text 
omitted, see Code.) 

48. Anchorage of Vessel. Any owner or occupier of 
a fishery on the Potomac River may cause and permit all 
vessels employed by him in carrying on his business to 
be anchored or moored opposite his shore, but not so as to 
interfere with the rights of the owners or occupiers of ad- 
joining shores in lajdng out their seines. 

49. License for Shad and Herring. No person shall 
fish in the Potomac River or its tributaries for shad and 
herring during the season prescribed in Section 36 with 
seines, gill nets or nets of any kind, without having first 
obtained a license therefor, as hereinafter provided; and 
no person shall be entitled to obtain such license for fish- 
ing with a hauling seine who is not the owner or occupier 
of some fishing shore on said river; nor shall any persons 
be entitled to obtain such license for fishing with gill nets, 
except bona fide citizens of the counties bordering on said 
river. 

50. How Licenses Obtained. All persons entitled 
under the preceding section to fish for shad and herring 
in the Potomac River and its tributaries shall first obtain 
a license therefor, by application to the clerk of the circuit 
court for the county bordering on said river, opposite to, 
or in which he may desire to fish, which license shall have 
effect for and during the period fixed in Section 36; and 
the Comptroller of the Treasury shall cause to be printed 
and delivered to the several clerks of the circuit courts for 
the counties bordering on said river, the requisite number 
of such blank licenses, and take their receipts for the same, 
as for other licenses furnished; and said clerk shall, on 
the first Monday in June in each year, return to the said 
Comptroller a list and account of such licenses issued 
by them. 



73 

51. Contents of Licenses. (Text omitted, see Code.) 

52-56. Fishing in Potomac Without License Prohib- 
ited ; Number of License to Be Painted on Boat ; Ar- 
rests for Violation ; Forfeitures ; Penalties ; Disposi- 
tion of Fines. (Text omitted, see Code.) 

57. Fishing from Arks, Lighters or Floats Prohib- 
ited; Penalties. It shall be unlawful hereafter for any 
person to fish in the Potomac River from what are known 
as arks or lighters, or from any kind of vessel or float, 
by whatever named called, in or upon which persons may 
live or may exclusively occupy; but all such fishing shall 
be with and from regular seine or gilling boats. (Penal- 
ties prescribed, see Code.) 

FIVERS IN TALBOT, DORCHESTER AND 
CAROLINE. 

60. Fishing Regulations. No person shall take or 
catch fish in the waters of Talbot, Dorchester or Caroline 
Counties except the citizens of said counties, and except 
such residents of this State as may obtain the permission 
of the owner or occupier of land bordering on any of the 
said waters; provided, that any person so obtaining per- 
mission shall not employ in his service any other than a 
bona fide resident of this State. 

61. Penalty. Any person violating the preceding sec- 
tion shall pay a fine of not less than five nor more than 
fifty dollars, and forfeit the boat or vessel in his posses- 
sion, together with the seine, tackle and all things on 
board at the time the offense may be committed. 

WYE RIVER AND RIVERS IN QUEEN ANNE'S AND 
KENT COUNTIES. 

62. Seine Hauling Without Shore-Owner's Permis- 
sion Prohibited. If any person shall haul a seine in 
Wye River, or any of the rivers of Queen Anne's or Kent 
Counties, without the permission of the owner or occupant 
of the shore where such seine may be hauled, such owner 



74 

or occupant may seize, by way of distress, the seine, boat, 
tackle and everything on board the boat, and may have 
the damages sustained by him by reason of such hauling of 
a seine ascertained by a justice of the peace or by three 
citizens to be summoned and sworn by a justice of the 
peace ; and when the damages are so ascertained the owner 
or occupant of such shore may have the seine, boat and 
articles so distrained appraised and sold to pay such 
damages. 

FINES, PENALTIES AND FORFEITURES. 

63-71. Penalties; Arrests; Procedure; Forfeitures; 
Proceeds; Sales; Disposition of Fines; Committals. 
(Text omitted, see Code.) 

TROUT AND OTHER FISH. 

72. Seasons for Catching Trout. It shall not be law- 
ful for any person to take, catch or kill any speckled brook 
trout, or any speckled river trout, save only with a hook 
and line, or to have any such trout in his possession, except 
during the months of April, May, June, July and the first 
fifteen days in the month of August, under a penalty of 
five dollars for each trout so caught! or had in his pos- 
session; but this section shall not prevent any person or 
corporation from catching trout in any manner or at any 
time in waters owned by him or them, or upon his or their 
premises to stock other waters. (The Act of 1916, Ch. 404, 
permits the catching of brook trout in the waters of Fred- 
erick County with rod, line and hook from March 31st 
to July 1st.) 

73. Regulations. It shall not be lawful for any person 
within this State to take or catch any brook trout at any 
time in any of the waters of the State by means of any 
fish-basket, seine or seines, net or nets, trap or traps, 
under a penalty of five dollars for each and every fish 
so taken. 



75 

74. Poisoning Fish. No person shall place in any 
fresh water stream, lake or pond, without the consent of 
the owner, or in the waters and estuaries with the rivers 
debouching into them, any lime or other deleterious sub- 
stance, with the intent thereby to poison or catch fish, un- 
der a penalty of one hundred dollars. 

75. Artificial Ponds. Whenever any person who 
owns, controls or erects an artificial pond upon his own 
land, or land of which he is in legal possession, shall put 
therein any fish, or the eggs or spawn of fish, for the pur- 
pose of breeding and cultivating fish, and shall give notice 
thereof, either in one or more newspapers of the county, 
or by written or printed handbills put up in public places 
near said pond, any person who shall thereafter enter 
upon such premises, without the consent of the owner, 
for the purpose of fishing, or shall catch in said pond or 
ponds and take therefrom any fish, shall be guilty of a 
trespass, and, in addition thereto, shall be liable to a pen- 
alty of five dollars for the first fish, ten dollars for the 
second, and twenty dollars for the third and each subse- 
quent offense. 

76. Trout Fish Culture. Any person or company en- 
gaged in the increase of brook trout by artificial process 
(known as fish culture) may take from his or their pond 
or ponds in any way, and cause to be transported, and may 
sell any brook trout and the spawn of brook trout at any 
time ; and common carriers may transport them, and 
dealers may sell them on condition that the packages 
thereof so transported are accompanied by a certificate 
from a justice of the peace, certifying that such trout are 
sent by the owners or agents or parties so engaged in fish 
culture; and such person or company may take, in any 
way and at any time, upon the premises of any person, 
under permission of the owners thereof, brook trout to be 
kept and used for artificial propagation only, and for no 
other purpose. 

77. Prosecutions. Violation of any of the provisions 
of the five preceding sections may be prosecuted by any 
citizen of the county in which said violation shall take 



place, before any justice of the peace or circuit court for 
said county; funds paid as penalties shall be equally 
divided between the informer and the public school com- 
missioners of the county, for the benefit of the public 
schools in the district where the offense is committed. 

78. Season for Bass and Other Fish. No person shall 
catch or in any manner take or kill in any waters of this 
State, above a point where the tide ebbs and flows, any 
black bass, pickerel or pike perch, otherwise known as 
wall-eyed pike, and California salmon, between the first 
day of April and the fifteenth day of June, both inclusive, 
in each and every year, in any manner whatsoever, nor 
at any time, save only with rod, line and single hook, 
baited with natural bait, or tied with artificial fly, or with 
a spoon or spinner, each equipped with a single hook, or 
of any size less than eight inches, measuring in the case 
of each fish from the tip of the nose to the end of the 
caudal fin or tail, under a penalty of five dollars ($5.00) 
for each fish so unlawfully caught, taken or killed. 

79. Size of Fish. No person shall catch or in any man- 
ner take or kill in the said waters thereof at any time any 
white or yellow perch of any size less than seven inches in 
length, or any pike less than fourteen inches in length, or 
any rock, otherwise known as striped bass, less than ten 
inches in length, or any tailor less than eight inches in 
length, or white cat fish under seven inches, or any stur- 
geon weighing less than twenty pounds, or any rock weigh- 
ing over twenty pounds, in spawning season of April, May 
and June, measuring, in case of fish, from the tip of the 
nose to the end of the caudal fin or tail, excepting haul 
seines during the time between April first and June 
twelfth. 

80. Obstructing Streams. No person shall, in this 
'State, in any manner or at any- time, so obstruct any 

stream above where the tide ebbs and flows in which trout 
or other fish have been placed by the State or national 
government so that said fish shall not have free access 
up and down said stream, under a penalty of not less 



77 

than ten dollars ($10), nor more than twenty-five dollars 
($25) for every such offense. 

81. Fish Ladders. Every owner of a dam. or dams 
upon any of the said waters of this State is hereby re- 
quired to make and keep in repair, or cause to be made 
and kept in repair, and placed upon said dam or dams 
at least one fish ladder of such character as to enable fish 
to have a free course up and down said waters at all 
times under a penalty of not less than twenty-five dollars 
($25), nor more than one hundred dollars ($100) for each 
and every offense ; provided that one-half the cost of con- 
structing said fish ladders, upon dams in Harford County 
now in existence, shall be borne by the county commis- 
sioners of said county. 

82. Throwing Explosives in Fish Waters Prohib- 
ited; Exception; Penalties. (Text omitted, see Code.) 

83. Emptying Net or Seine upon Beach Prohibited; 
Exception ; Minimum Size Certain Fish. No person shall 
at any time empty any seine or net of any description 
whatsoever upon the beach, shore or land bordering upon 
any of the waters of this State, or in the waters bordering 
on said beach, shore or land where the water is less than 
twelve inches in depth, except that in the waters of the 
Chesapeake Bay, above Poole's Island, seines or nets may 
be landed upon the shore or upon the flats; and no person 
shall at any time so empty any such seine or net as to 
leave to perish upon the beach, shore or land, or upon any 
boat or float, any white or yellow perch of any size less 
than seven inches in length ; or any rock fish, or striped 
bass, less than ten inches in length ; or any tailor of any 
size less than eight inches in length ; or any pike of any 
size less than fourteen inches in length, measuring in each 
case for each one of said fish from the tip of the nose to 
the end of the caudal fin or tail ; or any sturgeon weighing 
less than twenty pounds; or any rock weighing over 
twenty pounds, in spawning season of April, May and 
June ; but every person so using any seine or net of any 
description, or hook and line, shall immediately cull over 
and return to waters where same is not less than twelve 



78 

inches deep, all of the aforesaid fish therein captured of 
any size than the aforesaid lengths, or any sturgeon weigh- 
ing less than twenty pounds ; provided, further, that noth- 
ing in this section contained shall prevent any one from 
capturing and destroying in any manner, save only by the 
way prohibited by Section 82, any German carp, or leather 
carp, or any carp of any description whatsoever, of any 
size. 

84. Prosecutions Before Justices of the Peace; 
Disposition of Fines Imposed. (Text omitted, see Code.) 

85. Sale of Certain Fish Prohibited. No person 
shall, in this State, sell or expose for sale, or buy any 
white perch, yellow perch, rock or striped bass, tailor or 
pike under size mentioned in Section 83, or any sturgeon 
under weight as limited in said section, where the fish so 
offered for sale, or bought, contain over ten per cent, of 
fish under size or weight, whether such fish so exposed for 
sale, sold or bought shall have been caught, trapped or in 
any other manner taken or killed in the State of Maryland 
or in any other State or county, under penalty for expos- 
ing for sale, selling or buying of such fish, as provided in 
Section 83, for catching said under-size fish; but nothing 
in this section contained shall be so construed as to pre- 
vent any of the fish commissioners of this State, in pur- 
suance of their capacity as a fish culturist, or any other 
person or corporation which shall first obtain a certificate 
in writing from the State Game Warden to the effect that 
such persons or corporations are engaged in the scientific 
culture or propagation only; and to obtain said certificate 
said persons or corporations must file with the State Game 
Warden an application and affidavit to the truth and bona 
fides thereof, made by the person or officers of the cor- 
poration requesting the same, and taken before any officer 
competent to administer an oath in this State, and said 
affidavit and application shall be retained and kept on file 
by said State Game Warden. 

86. Application of Fish Laws. All acts and parts of 
acts, and all sections and parts of sections of the code, both 
general and local laws, and all amendments of and addi- 



79 

tions and supplements thereto, now in force in the State 
of Maryland inconsistent with the provisions of Sections 
78 to 86, with the exception only of Chapter 427 of the 
Acts of the General Assembly of Maryland, passed at the 
session of 1896, are hereby repealed. 

87. Cat-Fish and Eels. It shall be lawful to take cat- 
fish and eels in any of the waters of the State of Maryland 
in any manner during the months of September, October, 
November and December in each year. 

88. Penalties for Violation of Certain Sections. 
(Text omitted, see Code.) 

89. Clerk's Duties to Account for Monies Keceived 
from Licenses, Fines, Etc. (Text omitted, see Code.) 

90. Proviso. This article shall not apply to those per- 
sons who take fish by hook or line, commonly known as 
anglers. 

CHESAPEAKE BAY. 

110. *|Fish Licenses. Any person, firm or corporation 
desiring to engage in the business of taking or catching 
fish for sale, by the use of pound nets, fykes, haul seines or 
other contrivances, except hook and line, within the waters 
of the Chesapeake Bay, below Poole's Island, and within 
the jurisdictional limits of the State of Maryland, shall 
first obtain by application to the clerk of the circuit court 
for the county wherein he may reside, or the Clerk of the 
Court of Common Pleas of Baltimore City, a license there- 
for, and such license shall have effect from the first day of 
February, in the year in which it may have been obtained, 
to the first day of February, inclusive, next succeeding; 
and provided further, that such license shall not authorize 
the taking or catching of fish, except with hook and line, 
within the jurisdictional limits of any county or counties 
of this State. 



♦The Act of 1914, Chapter 556, provides that for a period of ten years 
it shall be unlawful to catch, kill, take or have in possession any sturgeon 
in the waters of the Chesapeake Bay or tributaries. 

fThe Act of 1914, Chapter 279, requires non-residents of Maryland 
to take out licenses for nets used in fishing in the waters of the Atlantic 
Ocean within the jurisdiction of Maryland in Worcester County. 



80 

111. Contents of Licenses; License Fees; Excep- 
tion. Each and every license to catch or take fish for 
sale under the provisions of Section 110 shall state the 
name, age and residence of the person to whom the same 
is granted, and every applicant for such license shall pay 
to the clerk of the circuit court for the county, or the 
Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of Baltimore City, 
when such license shall be granted and before the delivery 
of the same, the sum of five dollars for the first license, 
and the sum of one dollar for each and every additional 
net, haul seine or other contrivance to take or catch fish 
for sale in the waters of the Chesapeake Bay, and the 
sum of two dollars for each license to take or catch fish 
for sale in the tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay; the 
clerk to receive the sum of twenty-five cents for each and 
every license so issued, as a fee for issuing the same, in- 
cluding the administering of the oath when required; and 
the said amount of license received for issuing same shall 
be paid over by the clerk into the Treasury of the State 
of Maryland, to be credited to the "Oyster (now Conser- 
vation) Fund;" provided that the provisions of this sec- 
tion shall not apply to nor include purse, fyke and hoop, 
buck or gill nets, nor to hook and line, that nothing in this 
section shall apply north of a line drawn from Ricketts 
Point to Love Point. 

112. Oath Required. Every applicant for license to 
take or catch fish for sale under the provisions of this 
article, shall be required to make oath or affirmation before 
the clerk authorized to issue the same, or before some jus- 
tice of the peace, on whose certificate of the taking of such 
oath or affirmation the clerk shall issue said license, that 
"the facts set forth in said license are strictly true; that 
he has been a bona fide resident of the State of Maryland 
for the twelve months next preceding his application for 
said license, and that no non-resident of the State of 
Maryland is either directly or indirectly interested in the 
use of said pound net, fyke or haul seine or other con- 
trivance used in taking fish for sale, or any boat or vessel 
used in the prosecution of said fishing, or pound nets, 



81 

fykes, haul seines, or other contrivances in the taking or 
catching of fish for sale." 

112- A. Special Provision for Fishing in Waters of 
Bay Within Four Miles of Shore Line of St. Mary's 
County Between Cedar Point and Point Lookout; 
License Required; Penalty. (Text omitted, see Code.) 

113. License Blanks. The Comptroller of the Treas- 
ury shall cause to be printed and delivered to the clerks 
of the circuit courts for the several counties the requisite 
number of such blank licenses, and take receipt for the 
same, and for other licenses furnished; and said clerk 
shall on the first Monday in July and December of each 
year, return to the Comptroller a list and account of such 
licenses issued by them, and at the end of each year shall 
return all unused blank licenses to him, and shall pay over 
to the Comptroller all the moneys received by them for 
such license, which amount the said Comptroller shall 
place to the credit of the "'Oyster (now Conservation) 
Fund." 

114. Unlawful to Set Pound Nets, Fyke Nets, or 
Other Contrivances in Waters of Bay Below Poole's 
Island More Than One-Third Distance Across the 
Bay; Penalties. (Text omitted, see Code.) 

114- A. Unlawful to Set Nets of Any Description in 
Chesapeake Bay Between Drum Point and Cove Point 
Less Than Five Hundred Yards Apart or More Than 
One Hundred and Seventy-Five Yards in Length, In- 
cluding Wings, or More Than One-Fourth Distance 
Across Bay. (Text omitted, see Code.) 

115. Penalties and Forfeitures for Violation of 
Sections 110-118, Inclusive. (Text omitted, see Code.) 

116. Duties of State Fishery Force. It shall be the 
duty of the Commander of the State Fishery Force to 
command the deputies under his charge to see that the 
provisions of Sections 110 to 119, inclusive, of this article 
are not violated, and to arrest all persons found violating 
any provisions of said sections, and take the said offender 



82 

or offenders to the nearest or most accessible justice of the 
peace of any of the counties of this State, to be dealt with 
according to law. 

117. Fines to Be Placed to Credit of Conservation 
Fund. (Text omitted, see Code.) 

118. Pound Nets and Stake Nets Prohibited in Cer- 
tain Waters. The use of pound nets or stake nets shall 
be absolutely prohibited in the Chesapeake Bay north of 
Poole's Island, except the bay shore of Kent County up to 
Howel's Point, at the mouth of Sassafras River, and also 
on the Susquehanna River (and except on the west side 
of the Chesapeake Bay from Poole's Island north to one- 
half mile north of Spesutia Island, on the west side of 
the bay, not to exceed eight hundred yards from the 
shore) ; and any person who shall engage in fishing for 
sale with the use of said pound nets, stake nets or similar 
contrivances now used or hereafter invented, in violation 
of this section, shall be subject to the same fines and pen- 
alties as are prescribed in Section 114 of this article; and 
provided further, that all persons using haul seines and 
similar contrivances, except pound nets and stake nets, 
which are hereby prohibited, shall pay the same license 
and be subject to the same provisions of all sections under 
the sub-title "Chesapeake Bay," of this article, except gill 
nets, which are exempted. 

119. Sheriffs and Constables of Counties to Make 
Arrests for Violations of Sections 110-118, Inclusive; 
Forfeiture and Sale of Boat ; Disposition of Proceeds. 
(Text omitted, see Code.) 

120. Exception. The provisions of Sections 110 to 
119, inclusive, shall not apply in any way to the use 
of the rod, hook and line in taking or catching fish at 
any time during the year, or gill nets for family purposes. 

121. Limits of Bay. The lines defining the headwaters 
of the Chesapeake Bay at or near the mouth of the Sus- 
quehanna River shall be defined as follows: All waters 
west and south of the following line shall be considered as 



83 

belonging to the Chesapeake Bay, to wit: A line drawn 
from Carpenter's Point, thence to Grove Point; and a 
line drawn from Grove Point to Howel's Point, but not 
to include any tributary of said bay. 

123. Threshing Fish into Nets Prohibited. It shall 
be unlawful f6r any person or persons to whip or beat 
the waters of any river, creek, cove, inlet or tributary 
within the limits of this State with poles, sticks, or any 
other thing, for the purpose of driving fish into thresh 
nets, seines, nets, fish-baskets, or any other contrivance for 
catching fish, and any person violating this section shall 
be subject to the fines and forfeitures prescribed by Sec- 
tion 115 of this Act. 



84 



Part VII— CRABS AND CLAMS. 

(Article 39.) 

91. Closed Season. It shall be unlawful for any per- 
son or persons to take, catch or gather hard shell crabs 
in any of the waters of the State of Maryland between the 
first day of November and the first day of May next suc- 
ceeding in each and every year. 

92. Penalties. Any person or persons violating the 
preceding section shall be deemed guilty of a misde- 
meanor, and upon conviction thereof before any justice of 
the peace shall be fined in a sum of not less than ten dol- 
lars nor more than twenty-five dollars, or be confined in 
the county jail of the county in which said offense was 
committed for not more than three months, or be both 
fined and imprisoned, in the discretion of the justice of the 
peace or the court trying the same. 

93. Duties of Deputy Commanders. It shall be the 
duty of the State Fishery Force to assist in enforcing the 
provisions of the crab laws of this State, and to that end 
the deputy commanders of said force now or hereafter 
assigned by law to certain districts shall be specially 
charged with the enforcement of said laws within their 
respective districts and with power to arrest all violators 
thereof wherever found within the State. 

93- A. Crabbers' Licenses. Any resident of Maryland, 
desiring to take or catch crabs from the waters thereof 
for market by any of the means hereinafter mentioned, 
shall first obtain a numbered license from the clerk of 
the circuit court for the county in which he resides, or 
from the Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas if he resides 
in Baltimore City, such license to be good for the year 
of issuance only, and shall pay the following fees : ( 1 ) For 
each person working on any boat used in taking or catch- 
ing soft-shell or shedder crabs with scrapes or with net 
other than dip-net with handle, a license fee of $1.00 ; 
(2) for each person taking or catching soft-shell or shedder 
crabs by dip-net with handle a license fee of $1.00; (3) 



85 

for each person taking or catching hard crabs by trot line 
or by any other means, using either sail, motor boat or 
row boat, a license fee of $1.00. Provided, that such license 
shall not authorize the taking or catching of crabs in any 
creek, cove, river, inlet, bay or sound within the limits of 
any county other than that wherein the license shall have 
been granted ; provided, that nothing in this section shall be 
so construed as to prevent the citizens of counties divided 
by a river from using said dividing river (Patuxent 
River and its tributaries) in common. All persons taking 
or catching crabs under the provisions of this article shall 
exhibit their license for so doing when required by any 
officer of the oyster police force, or other officers of the 
State. Boys, ten year of age and under, shall not be re- 
quired to obtain a license. Non-residents of Maryland 
shall not be permitted to catch crabs from the waters 
thereof for market. Residents of Baltimore City may be 
licensed to catch crabs in Anne Arundel and Baltimore 
Counties. 

93-B. Packers' and Shippers' Licenses. Any person 
desiring to engage in the business of picking, canning or 
packing crabs in any way, or buying or marketing crabs, 
shall first obtain a license from the clerk of the circuit 
court for the county in which he resides or does business, 
or from the Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas if he re- 
sides or does business in Baltimore City, such license to 
be good for the year of issue only, and shall pay the fol- 
lowing fees: (1) For each person, firm or corporation en- 
gaged in the business of picking, canning, packing or 
shipping cooked hard or soft crabs or crab meat (except 
persons picking and selling crab meat for local family 
trade), a license fee of $10.00; (2) for each person, firm 
or corporation engaged in the business of selling, market- 
ing or shipping live hard or soft crabs by barrel or crate, 
a license fee of $5.00 ; provided that any person who is 
duly licensed to ship or pack crabs shall not be required 
to procure further license. 

93-C. Female Crabs. It shall be unlawful for any 
person or persons to catch, offer for sale or hold in his 



86 

or their possession at any time, any female crabs bearing- 
eggs visible thereon (sponge crabs) or any female crab 
from which the egg pouch or bunion has been removed. 

93-D. Penalties. Any person, firm or corporation 
violating the provisions of the sections of this sub-title 
" Crabs," shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon 
conviction before any justice of the peace in the county 
or city in which he resides, shall be fined not less than 
$10, nor more than $100, in the discretion of the court. 
Upon failure to pay the fine the convicted party may be 
imprisoned for not more than three months, or until the 
fine be paid. 

94. Disposition of Fund. One-tenth of all crab license 
fees provided by this sub-title shall be retained by the re- 
spective clerks of the courts issuing same, and the remain- 
ing nine-tenths, together with all fines imposed under Sec- 
tion 93-D for violation of any of the provisions of this 
law, shall be paid into the "Conservation Fund," and 
shall be disbursed by the Conservation Commission so far 
as is necessary in paying the expenses incurred by them 
in the protection or propagation of the crab supply of this 
State, the balance, if any, to be used in the discretion of 
the Commission for any of the objects under its control. 

SOMERSET COUNTY. 

Crab Law, Acts 1916, Chapter 419. It shall be un- 
lawful for any person or persons to dredge for crabs on 
any of the natural bars or rocks set aside for the taking 
of oysters in the waters of Somerset Count}^, or to take, 
catch or have in his or their possession any hard crabs, 
other than one in the peeler state, measuring less than 
five inches across the shell from tip to tip of spike ; nor 
shall any person or persons take, catch or have in his or 
their possession any egg bearing female crab, known as the 
spawn crab, sponge crab, blooming female crab, or mother 
crab, nor any female crab from which the egg pouch or 
bunion has been removed, nor shall any person or persons 
take, catch or keep in floats or in his or their possession 
any fat crab, or any crab known as snot crab or green crab. 



87 

1. Clam Law, Acts 1916, Chapter 179. It shall be un- 
lawful for any person not a resident of Somerset County 
to take or catch clams within the waters of said county, 
and no resident of Somerset County shall take or catch 
clams with patent tongs for sale in any of the waters 
thereof unless he shall first have obtained from the clerk 
of the circuit court of said county a license which shall 
state the name, color, age and residence of the person to 
whom such license is granted, and the number of said 
license. Every applicant for such license shall pay to the 
clerk of said court before the issuing* and delivery of the 
same a license fee of one dollar and fifty cents ($1.50), 
and said clerk shall also be entitled to receive from said 
applicant the sum of twenty-five cents (25c) as a fee for 
issuing said license and administering the oath required 
herein. Two-thirds of the amount received for such license 
shall be paid by the Clerk to the School Commissioners of 
Somerset County for the use of the public schools in said 
county, and of this amount the portion received from 
white tongers shall go to the support of white schools, 
and the portion received from colored tongers shall go to 
the support of the colored schools, and the remaining one- 
third shall be paid over by the clerk of said court to the 
Comptroller of the State Treasury to be credited to the 
oyster fund. 

2. No person, firm or corporation shall engage in the 
business of shipping clams in Somerset County without 
having first obtained from the clerk of the circuit court 
of said county a license for said business, for which a 
license fee of five dollars shall be charged, two-thirds of 
which sum shall be paid by the said clerk to the School 
Commissioners of Somerset County for the use of the pub- 
lic schools in said county ; and of this amount the portion 
received from white licensees shall go to the support of the 
white schools, and the portion received from colored 
licensees shall go to the support of colored schools, and 
the remaining one-third shall be paid over by the said 
clerk to the Comptroller of the State Treasury to be cred- 
ited to the oyster fund. 



88 

3. Every applicant for a license as aforesaid shall be 
required to make oath or affirmation before the said clerk, 
or before a justice of the peace of Somerset County, or a 
notary public, upon whose certificate of the taking of 
such oath or affirmation the said clerk shall issue said 
license that the facts set forth therein are strictly true, 
and that he has been a resident of said county for twelve 
months next preceding his application for said license. 

4. Every such license shall entitle the holder thereof 
to take or catch clams in the waters of Somerset County 
during the calendar year for which same is issued, and 
shall be issued upon printed forms supplied by the Comp- 
troller of the Treasury, who shall take receipts for the 
same from the said clerk as for other licenses furnished, 
and said clerk shall, upon the first Monday of December 
in each year, return to said Comptroller all unused licenses, 
and shall pay over to him one-third of the amount received 
by said clerk for such licenses as in this act provided. 

5. All clams that are offered for sale in the State of 
Maryland, or that are manifested for shipment with any 
transportation company of Maryland for interstate ship- 
ment shall be counted by the shipper, or his legal agent ; the 
count of each sack, barrel, or container, of whatever de- 
scription, shall be plainly marked either in some con- 
spicous place on the container itself, or on the tag contain- 
ing the name of the consignee and the consignor, these 
words : ' ' This package contains clams, full quan- 
tity, guaranteed," and no clams shall be offered for sale 
that do not measure at least one and one-half inches in 
dimension at its longest points. Any person, firm, or 
corporation, which shall falsely mark any such container 
with a number larger than is actually contained therein, 
or which shall sell or offer for sale any clams of a size 
smaller than is provided in this section, shall be deemed 
guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction, be 
fined or imprisoned, as hereinafter provided. 

6. Any person violating the provisions of this act shall, 
upon conviction thereof, before any justice of the peace for 
said county, be fined not less than twenty dollars nor more 



89 

than one hundred dollars, or shall be committed to the 
county jail for a period not exceeding 60 days at the dis- 
cretion of said justice, the defendant having the right of 
appeal to the circuit court for said county. All persons 
taking or catching clams under the provisions of this act 
shall exhibit their authority for so doing when required 
by any officer of the oyster police force or other officers of 
the State. 



90 

Part VIII— TERRAPIN. 

(Code, Article 92.) 

1. Closed Season ; Counties Excepted. It shall be 
unlawful for any person to take or catch or have in pos- 
session in this State any terrapin between the first day of 
April and the first day of November in each year ; the term 
terrapin to apply to those known as diamond back or salt 
water terrapin, skilpot and sliders. This section shall not 
apply to Worcester, Somerset, Dorchester, Calvert, Charles, 
Wicomico and St. Mary's Counties. 

2. Closed Season in Othfr Counties. It shall be un- 
lawful for any person to take or catch or have in pos- 
session in this State any terrapin of a less size than five 
inches in length on the bottom shell, and no person shall 
take or catch any diamond-back or salt-water terrapin 
between the first day of May and the first day of July in 
each year. This section to apply to Worcester, Dorchester, 
Wicomico and Somerset Counties; and provided that any 
bona fide dealer or dealers may have terrapin in their pos- 
session during said closed season. 

3. Terrapin Eggs. It shall be unlawful for any per- 
son to interfere with or in any manner destroy terrapin 
eggs. 

4. Who May Catch Terrapin. None but bona fide 
residents of this State shall take or catch terrapin therein. 

5. Penalties. Any person violating any of the pre- 
ceding sections shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor 
and upon conviction thereof before a justice of the peace 
of this State shall be fined not less than five nor more 
than ten dollars for each terrapin so taken or held in 
possession, or for destroying such eggs ; and the terrapin so 
held in possession shall be confiscated and returned by the 
officer making the arrest to the public natural waters for 
terrapin; one-half of all such fines to go to the informer 
and the balance to the game warden. 



91 

6. Evidence. The possession by any person of terrapins 
between the first day of April and the first day of Novem- 
ber shall be conclusive evidence of violation of this article. 

7. Who May Arrest. The constable, game warden and 
officers of the State Fishery Force shall, upon informa- 
tion of any one, arrest any person or persons violating' the 
provisions of this article and take them before the nearest 
justice of the peace to be dealt with in accordance to the 
provisions of Section 5. 



92 



Part IX— WILD FOWL; BIRDS AND GAME. 

(Code, Article 99.) 

L Wild Fowl in Flocks. No person shall at any time, 
in, on, or over the waters of the State, shoot at or shoot 
any water fowl bedded in flocks, either upon the feeding 
or roosting grounds of said water fowl, or elsewhere, from 
any vessel, boat, float, canoe, or any craft of any kind 
whatever. (See Section 13.) 

2. Limits of Blinds. No person shall at any time, in, 
on, or over the waters of the State, shoot at or shoot any 
water fowl from any booby-blind, or artificial point erected 
at a greater distance than one hundred yards from the 
natural shore from which the same may be extended. 

3. Feeding Grounds. No person shall at any time shoot 
at or shoot any water fowl flying about their feeding 
grounds or elsewhere over the waters aforesaid from ves- 
sel, boat, float, canoe, or craft of any kind contrary to 
the provisions of this article. 

4. Penalty. If any person shall violate any of the 
provisions of the three preceding sections, he shall be 
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall pay a fine of 
not less than ten nor more than one hundred dollars, to 
be recovered by action of debt in the name of the State 
before a justice of the peace of the county where the 
offense is committed, or by indictment in the circuit court 
for said county. 

5. Aiders or Abetters. Any person aiding or abetting 
another by furnishing a boat or float of any description, 
or gun, or ammunition, to be used in violation of Sections 
1, 2 or 3 of this article shall be deemed guilty of a mis- 
demeanor and shall be dealt with and fined as if he had 
violated them himself. 

6. Arrests. Any officer of the State Fishery Force, 
sheriff, constable or commissioned militia officer of the 
county wherein the provisions of this article relating to 



93 

water fowl may be violated, who shall be satisfied either 
upon his own view or information received of any other 
person, whether on oath or not, that any one has violated 
the said provisions, is authorized and empowered to arrest 
and take into custody such person so offending, and the 
boatman or other persons found on board of the vessel, 
boat, float, canoe, or craft employed to convey such 
offender for the purpose of shooting at or killing wild 
ducks or wild fowl of any description contrary to the pro- 
visions of this article, and shall seize and take into his 
possession the said vessel, boat, float, canoe, or craft, and 
the gun or guns, ammunition and decoy ducks in the same 
or in the use or possession of the offender or offenders. 

7. Trial. The said officers shall carry the person or 
persons so arrested before a justice of the peace of the 
county wherein the offense may be committed, represent- 
ing to the justice the breach of the law committed ; and 
the said justice shall inquire fully into the alleged offense, 
of which the finding of vessels, boats, floats, canoes or 
crafts employed as aforesaid or in the possession or use 
of the persons charged shall be considered as prima facie 
evidence of guilt. 

8-10. Further Proceedings; Fines, $10-$100. For- 
feiture and Sale of Boat. Appeal. (Text omitted, see 
Code.) 

11. Resistance of Arrest. If resistance be made to 
the officer engaged in making such arrest or seizure, such 
resistance shall be deemed a misdemeanor, presentable by 
the grand jury of the county and punishable in the circuit 
court therefor by fine and imprisonment as other misde- 
meanors are punished. 

12. Distribution of Fines, Etc. After the payment 
of the costs of the prosecution of the offenders, the balance 
arising from the fine and the sale of the boat and other 
property hereinbefore mentioned shall be divided and ap- 
portioned in the following manner: one-half to the officer 
and those who assisted him in making the arrest and seiz- 
ure, and the balance to be paid over to the county com- 



94 

missoners for the benefit of the school fund of the county. 
The preceding sections shall not apply to Baltimore, Har- 
ford or Cecil Counties as to which special provision is 
made in the local laws thereof. 

13. Shooting from Boat ; Special Provisions ; Acts 
1916, Chapter 542. It shall be unlawful to purposely or 
unnecessarily disturb in the waters of this State, or to 
pursue, kill or shoot at any wild fowl in or from any boat 
of any description within the limits of the State of Mary- 
land, or to pursue, shoot or gather any wounded or dead 
ducks, geese, swan or brant in any boat propelled by or 
equipped with sail or engines of any kind within the said 
limits. 

And it shall be unlawful for the owner or owners of 
any boat propelled by or equipped with sail or engines of 
any kind, or of any share or interest in such boat, to use 
or permit the use of such boat for any of the acts above 
prohibited, or to loan or hire such boat at any time be- 
tween the 15th day of October of any year and the 1st 
day of April in the then next ensuing year, to any person 
or persons without making due inquiry into the purpose of 
those applying for the use of such boat and becoming sat- 
isfied that those applying for the use of such boat intend to 
use the same exclusively for other purposes than the viola- 
tions of the provisions of this act, and that such persons 
are not equipped with and do not place in such boats any 
guns or ammunition suitable for shooting wild fowl. 

Each and every person on board of any boat by or from 
which wild fowl shall be unnecessarily disturbed or in 
which wild fowl shall be pursued, or from which wild fowl 
shall be shot at in violation of the provisions of this sec- 
tion, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon 
conviction thereof each person convicted shall be fined not 
less than one hundred dollars nor more than two hundred 
dollars for each offense, and in the event of the non- 
payment of the fine, the person or persons so convicted shall 
stand committed to the county jail or the jail of Baltimore 
City until such fine and costs are paid, but such imprison- 
ment shall not exceed sixty days for each offense, and in 



95 

addition to such fine or fines all boats used by said offenders 
and the guns and paraphernalia found in or on such boats 
or in possession of such persons so convicted, or used in 
such violation of the provisions of this section, shall be ad- 
judged confiscated and ordered to be sold and conveyed by 
the officer making the arrest or sheriff of the City or 
county wherein the conviction shall be had. After deduct- 
ing the cost of the arrests and trials of the persons so 
convicted, and of the custody, sale and conveyance of said 
boats, guns and paraphernalia, one-half of the fine and 
proceeds of sale of the confiscated property shall go to the 
deputy game warden, constable or other person who shall 
procure the conviction of any persons for violating the 
provisions of this section, and the remaining half shall be 
paid to tne State Treasurer to the account of the State 
Grame Protection Fund, to be used by the State Game 
Warden as may be provided by law. 

If any such power boats or boats impelled by sail or 
engines of any description be found in or near the waters 
where wild fowl are then and there using or bedding, hav- 
ing on board guns or other paraphernalia commonly em- 
ployed in the killing of wild fowl, or if any shots shall be 
fired from any such boat at or in the vicinity of wild fowl 
where bedded in the waters aforesaid, or if any such boat 
propelled by engine or sail shall be proven to have moved 
in the direction of such wild fowl so bedded, for the pur- 
pose of causing such wild fowl to fly from the place or 
waters in which they shall have been then and there 
bedded, such fact or facts, or any of them, shall be accepted 
as prima facie evidence of an intentional violation of the 
provisions of this Section on the part of each person on 
board of such boat, and of the ownership of such boat and 
of the guns and paraphernalia thereon by the persons so 
convicted ; provided, first, that nothing herein contained 
shall be deemed to prohibit the proper use of duly licensed 
and authorized sneak boats for shooting wild fowl, or duly 
licensed and authorized push boats, or to prevent the tow- 
ing of craft by power boats to and from the shooting 
grounds or to prevent shooting over or gathering wounded 
or dead wild fowl, in good faith, from boats propelled 



96 

only by oars, and not equipped with either sails or engines, 
when so used within a reasonable distance from the shore ; 
and provided, second, that any person or persons other 
than those convicted of violating the provisions of this 
section who may own in part or whole any boat, gun or 
paraphernalia adjudged to be confiscated or ordered to be 
sold, as above provided, may intervene by sworn petition 
in the court of such conviction within ten days thereafter, 
and make claim to such boat or other property ; and upon 
affirmative proof to the satisfaction of the court of such 
ownership and of the further facts that such owner or 
owners were, after making due inquiry as above required, 
in fact without knowledge or notice of any kind, direct or 
indirect, in advance of the use made or intended to be 
made of such boat, guns or paraphernalia, and did not, 
directly or indirectly, participate therein or connive 
thereat, and did not, in person or by agent, loan or rent 
or permit the use of such boat, guns or paraphernalia to 
any person or persons who, to his or their knowledge or 
information, intended or were likely to violate the pro- 
visions of this section, or who had heretofore pursued wild 
fowl on the waters of this State in boats and did not in 
person or by agent or employee act upon such boat as the 
operator or navigator thereof, then and thereupon the 
said court shall strike out the judgment of confiscation 
as to so much of said boat, guns or paraphernalia as the 
court shall from the evidence affirmatively find belongs to 
such bona fide innocent owner, and shall order the sale 
only of the remaining share or shares and interest in said 
boat, guns and other paraphernalia ; provided, that noth- 
ing herein contained shall apply to sink boxes nor to motor- 
boats running with the wind while shooting over decoys, 
nor to retrieving or shooting wounded wild water fowl 
which have been wounded over decoys, if said sink boxes 
and motor-boats running with the wind while gunning over 
decoys or retrieving ducks wounded or killed over decoys 
occurs northward of a line drawn east and west from 
Turkey Point, in Cecil County, and Locust Point, in Har- 
ford County. 



97 

14. Closed Season for Wild Fowl. It shall be unlaw- 
ful to shoot at or kill any duck, goose, swan or brant within 
the limits of the State of Maryland, between the 15th day 
of March and the first day of November in each and every 
year, and it shall further be unlawful to have in possession 
any such duck, goose, swan or brant between the 25th day 
of March and the first day of November in each and every 
year. Any person violating any of the provisions of this 
section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon 
conviction shall be fined not less than $25.00 nor more than 
$50.00 for each offense, and each duck, goose, swan or brant 
so shot at, killed or had in possession shall constitute a sepa- 
rate offense under this section; provided, however, that 
upon conviction the court or justice before whom such con- 
viction shall have been had may in its or his discretion im- 
pose a single fine for each day or part of a day in which 
such violation of this section occurred, such fine to be not 
less than $100.00 nor more than $250.00 for every such day 
or part of a day. 

15. Shooting on Sunday Prohibited. Other Eestric- 
tions. It shall be unlawful to shoot any wild fowl on Sun- 
days throughout the year, and it .shalf be unlawful to net 
or trap ducks in any manner at any time during the year 
m the State of Maryland, or to employ dynamite in any 
manner whatsoever for the purpose of capturing or killing 
any species of wild fowl ; and it shall further be unlawful 
m said State to shoot at or kill any wild duck, swan, goose 
or brant at any time or in any manner with a rifle, or to fire 
a rifle in and about places where wild duck, swan, goose or 
brant are congregated. Any person violating any of the 
provisons of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, 
and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than 
twenty-five dollars nor more than fifty dollars for each and 
every offense. 

16. Fishing; Susquehanna Flats. It shall be unlaw- 
ful to fish with nets or in any other manner on the Susque- 
hanna Flats or in the waters of Romney Creek, in Harford 
County, between the fifteenth day of October and the first 
day of April. That part of the Chesapeake Bay and tribu- 
taries shall be known as the Susquehanna Flats which is 



98 

contained within the following metes and bounds : All that 
portion of the Chesapeake Bay and tributaries lying south 
of a line drawn east from Concord Light House, in Harford 
County, to Carpenters Point on the western shore of Cecil 
County, and north of a line beginning at the light house on 
Turkey Point, in Cecil County, and drawn westerly to a 
point half a mile north of the northerly part of Spesutia 
Island; thence continuing said line still westward, but at 
no time approaching nearer than a half mile from the north- 
ern end of said Island and the adjacent mainland, until it 
reaches the Harford County shore at or near Oakington. 
Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be 
guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall 
be fined not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than 
fifty dollars. 

17. Shooting at Night Prohibited. It shall be unlaw- 
ful to shoot at or kill any wild fowl in the State of Mary- 
land at night time in any manner, whether from the shore 
or otherwise. Any person found violating the provisions 
of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, 
and on conviction thereof shall pay a fine of not less than 
fifty dollars nor more than one hundred dollars for each 
and every offense, and if it shall be proved that any party 
charged with shooting at or killing wild fowl at night was 
at or about the place at which the shot was fired, and that 
such person had a gun in his possession on the night in 
question in the vicinity thereof, either reasonably prior to, 
at the time of or after the firing, such facts shall be deemed 
prima facie evidence of the violation of this section; pro- 
vided, however, that it shall be lawful for any land owner 
or person having the permission of such owner to shoot 
and kill geese and swan at night on or from the shore of 
such owner. 

18. Size of Gun. No person shall at any time in this 
State shoot at or kill any duck, wild fowl, birds or game 
with big or swivel gun, or any gun other than such as 
can be easily raised to the shoulder and held horizontally 
at arm's length, and without a rest, and fired from that 
position by a person of ordinary strength and stature. 
Any person found violating the provisions of this section 



99 

shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be fined not 
less than one hundred dollars nor more than two hun- 
dred dollars for each and every offense, and every gun 
which cannot be habitually shot from the shoulder in the 
manner above indicated shall be confiscated and destroyed 
If any person is found with such a described gun in his 
possession in the vicinity of ducks, birds or game, it shall 
be prima facie evidence of a violation of this section. 

19. Jurisdiction of Justices of the Peace: Disposi- 
tion of Fines. Justices of the peace of Harford, Cecil, 
Kent and Baltimore Counties and Baltimore City shall 
have concurrent jurisdiction over all violations of the 
provisions of Sections 13 to 19 arising on the Chesapeake 
aT 7 .^ - lts tributaries north of a line drawn from the 
North Point Light to Tolchester Beach. 
, Q Al } y . P erson convicted under Sections 14, 15, 16, 17 or 
18, failing to pay his fine, the person so convicted shall 
stand committed to the county jail or the jail of Balti- 
more City until the fine and costs are paid, but such 
imprisonment shall not exceed sixty days for each offense 
Any deputy game warden, constable or other person who 
shall procure the conviction of any person or persons vio- 
lating the provisions of Sections 14, 15, 16 17 or 18 
shall receive one-half of the fine collected after the pay- 
ment of costs, and the remaining one-half shall be paid 
over to the State Treasurer to the account of the State 
Game Protection Fund, to be used by the State Game 
Warden as may be provided by law. 

20. Closed Season. Partridge, Pheasant, Wild Tur- 
key: Woodcock, Rabbit, Squirrel; Counties Exempt 
No person shall shoot, trap, catch or kill, or gun or hunt 
for any partridge or quail, English or Mongolian pheasant 
American pheasant, dark neck Bohemian pheasant, pheas- 
ant or ruffed grouse, rabbit, wild turkey, woodcock or deer 
within the State of Maryland between the twenty-fourth 
day of December and the tenth day of November in any 
year, exclusive of both dates. Nor shall any person shoot, 
kill or hunt for any squirrel between the twenty-fourth 
day of December and the twenty-fifth day of August or 



100 

between the first day of October and the tenth day of 
November in any year, both dates exclusive. (Anne Arun- 
del, Calvert, Charles, Dorchester, Prince George's, St. 
Mary's and Talbot Counties exempted as to squirrels.) Nor 
upon Sunday or when the ground is sufficiently covered 
with snow to track the birds or game above mentioned. 
And there shall be a daily closed season on all the above 
enumerated game birds and game animals, with the excep- 
tion of rabbits, between sunset and sunrise. 

20-A. When Pheasants Excepted. Nothing in Section 
20 of this article shall prevent the propagation, raising or 
killing of domesticated, English or ring-necked pheasants 
where the said pheasants are hatched out and raised on 
the place where they are killed ; provided, that said pheas- 
ants shall not be killed on grounds other than those owned 
by the breeders thereof, and nothing in this act shall per- 
mit the following of said pheasants beyond the boundaries 
thereof. Any person violating the provisions of this sec- 
tion shall be subject to the same penalty provided for 
violating Section 20. 

21. Penalties. Any person convicted, before any jus- 
tice of the peace of this State, for violating the preceding 
section (20) shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars 
nor more than one hundred dollars and costs for each and 
every offense. And any deputy game warden, constable or 
other persons who shall procure the conviction of any per- 
son or persons violating the provisions of the preceding 
section shall receive one-half of the fine collected, and the 
remaining one-half of the fine shall be paid over to the 
State Treasurer to be credited to the account of the State 
Game Protection Fund. Provided, that any person who 
fails to pay any fine so imposed shall be committed to jail 
for not less than twenty-five nor more than sixty days. 

23. Closed Season; Doves. No person shall shoot or 
in any manner catch or kill in this State any doves between 
the twenty-fourth day of December and the fifteenth day 
of August following, under a penalty of not less than one 
dollar ($1) nor more than two dollars ($2) for each dove 
so shot, caught or killed. But see Section 28-B, infra. 



101 

24. Closed Season ; Snipe and Plover. No person 
shall shoot or in any manner catch or kill in this State any 
snipe or plover between the first day of May and the fif- 
teenth day of August in each and every year, under a 
penalty of not less than one dollar ($1) nor more than two 
dollars ($2) for each such bird so shot, caught or killed; 
provided, however, that this section shall not apply to 
Worcester County. 

25. Closed Season ; Reedbird, Railbird, etc. No per- 
son shall shoot or in any manner catch or kill in this State 
any waterrail or ortolan or reedbird, railbird or ricebird 
between the first day of November and the first day of Sep- 
tember following, under a penalty of not less than one dol- 
lar ($1) nor more than two dollars ($2) for each such 
birds so shot, caught or killed. 

26. Unlawful to Have in Possession or Expose for 
Sale, Alive or Dead, Any Birds or Game Above Men- 
tioned, in the City of Baltimore, During Respective 
Closed Seasons; Penalties and Fines. (Text omitted, 
see Code). 

27. Prohibits Possession or Sale of Birds or Game 
During Closed Seasons Throughout State. No person 
shall have in possession, expose for sale, sell or buy any 
of the aforesaid birds or game animals, alive or dead, in 
said City of Baltimore, or in any of the aforesaid respec- 
tive counties, during the aforesaid respective closed seasons 
or dates between which, in said city or counties, it is made 
unlawful, by the preceding sections of this sub-title, to 
shoot or have the same in possession, whether such birds 
or game animals so had in possession, exposed for sale, 
sold or bought, shall have been shot, or in any manner 
caught or killed in that county, or in any other county of 
this State, or in any other State, territory or country, 
under a penalty for the having in possession, exposing for 
sale, selling or buying of each such bird or game animal, 
similar in amount, respectively, to that hereinbefore made 
and provided for the illegal shooting or having in pos- 
session of the same, but nothing in this section or the pre- 
ceding sections contained shall be so construed as to pre- 



102 

vent any person or corporation, from having in his or 
its possession, at any time, any live birds or game animals, 
for the purpose of stocking lands in this State. 

28. Repealed by Act 1916, Chapter 385, infra, 

28-A to 28-M, New Sections Added by Act 1916, Chap- 
ter 385, viz : 

28-A. All wild birds other than game birds, both resi- 
dent and migratory, in this State, shall be and are hereby 
declared to be the property of the State. 

28-B. For the purposes of this act the following shall 
be considered game birds : Anatidae, or waterfowl, includ- 
ing brant, wild ducks, geese and swans; Rallidae, or rails, 
including coots (mudhens), gallinules, sora and other rails; 
Limicolae, or shore birds, including woodcock, snipe, yellow- 
legs and plover ; Gallinae, including quail, partridges, ruffed 
grouse, wild turkeys, and pheasants; doves, so far only as 
Talbot County is concerned; reedbirds (rice birds or 
bobolinks) and blackbirds. All other species of wild 
resident or migratory birds shall be considered non-game 
birds. 

28-C. No person within the State shall kill, catch or have 
in his or their possession, living or dead, any resident or 
migratory wild bird other than a game bird, or purchase, 
offer or expose for sale, any such wild non-game bird, after 
it has been killed or caught, except as permitted by this act. 

28-D. No part of the plumage, skin or body of any bird 
protected by this act shall be sold or had in possession for 
sale, and this irrespective of whether said bird was cap- 
tured or killed within or without the State. 

28-E. No person, within the State shall take or destroy, 
or attempt to take or destroy, the nest or the eggs of any 
wild bird, other than a game bird, or have such nest or 
eggs in his or their possession, except as permitted in this 
act. 



103 

28-F. It shall be unlawful for any person or persons 
or any corporation acting as a common carrier, its officers, 
agents or servants, to ship, carry, take or transport, either 
within or beyond the confines of the State, any resident or 
migratory wild non-game bird, except as permitted by this 
act. 

28-G-. Section 28-C-D-E and F of this act shall not apply 
to any person holding a certificate giving the right to take 
birds, their nest or eggs for strictly scientific purposes, as 
provided for in Section 28-H of this act, nor does it pre- 
vent any householder from keeping any resident or migra- 
tory birds in cages as pets, provided they are not kept for 
sale, barter or exchange, and that they shall not be shipped 
beyond the confines of the State. 

28-H. Certificates may be granted by the State Game 
Warden to any properly accredited person of the age of 
twenty-one years or upwards, permitting the holder thereof 
to collect birds, their nest or eggs, for strictly scientific 
purposes only. In order to obtain such certificate the ap- 
plicant for the same must present to the State Game 
Warden written testimonials from two well-known orni- 
thologists, certifying to the good character and fitness of 
said applicant to be entrusted with such privilege, and 
must pay to said officer one dollar ($1.00) to defray the 
necessary expenses attending the granting of such certifi- 
cate, balance, if any, to the State Game Protection Fund. 
On proof that the holder of such certificate has captured or 
killed any bird, or taken the nest or eggs of any bird for 
other than scientific purposes, the certificate shall become 
void, and he shall be liable to a fine of not less than fifty 
dollars ($50.00) nor more than one hundred dollars ($100), 
or imprisonment of thirty (30) days, or both fine and im- 
prisonment. 

28-1. The certificates authorized by this act shall expire 
on the 31st day of December of the year issued, and shall 
not be transferable. 

28- J. The English sparrow, starling, cooper's hawk, 
duck hawk, sharp-shinned hawk, and great horned owl, are 
not included among the birds protected by this act. This, 



104 

aet does not prevent any person from killing crows or 
blackbirds on his premises if destructive to crops, provided 
that said birds are not sold or offered for sale or shipped 
out of the State. 

28-K. Any person violating any of the provisions of this 
act, except Section 28-H, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, 
and upon conviction before any justice of the peace, shall 
be liable to a fine of not less than five dollars ($5.00) nor 
more than twenty-five dollars ($25.00), for each bird, living 
or dead, or part of a bird, or nest, or set of eggs or part 
thereof killed or captured or possessed, in violation of this 
act, or be imprisoned in jail for not more than thirty (30) 
days, or suffer both fine and imprisonment. 

28-L. All game wardens, sheriffs, constables or other of- 
ficers shall have the duty of enforcing the provisions of 
this act. 

28-M. All acts or parts of acts heretofore passed incon- 
sistent with or contrary to the provisions of this act are 
repealed. 

29. Gun Only to Be Used. No person shall at any 
time in this State shoot at or kill any of the birds or 
game, animals permitted to be shot or killed under this 
sub-title, with any other kind of gun than such as is 
habitually raised at arm's length from the shoulder, un- 
der a penalty of not less than five dollars ($5), nor more 
than twenty-five dollars ($25) for every such bird or 
game animal so shot at or killed, and under a further 
penalty of not less than fifty dollars ($50), nor more than 
one hundred dollars ($100) for each offense, and every 
gun which is not so habitually fired from the shoulder, as 
aforesaid, shall be liable to seizure by any State or county 
officer authorized to execute warrants and the forfeiture 
and destruction by any justice of the peace before whom 
such gun shall be produced. (See Section 18.) 

30. Night Gunning Prohibited. No person shall in 
this State at any time shoot at or in any manner kill or 
catch, in the night time, any of the birds mentioned in 
the preceding sections of this sub-title under a penalty 



105 

of not less than one dollar ($1), nor more than twenty- 
five dollars ($25) for each bird so killed or caught; and 
if at the trial it shall be proved that the person charged 
with shooting at or killing said birds in the night time 
was at or about the place where the shot was fired, and 
that he had a gun in his possession on the night in ques- 
tion, in the vicinity where such shooting occurred, either 
prior to or at the time of or after the shooting, such fact 
shall be deemed prima facie evidence of his having vio- 
lated the provisions of this section. (See Section 17.) 

31. Swivel Gun Prohibited. No person shall in this 
State at any time use or have in his possession, or sell or 
dispose of in any manner, any big or swivel gun, with 
the intent or for the purpose of shooting at or killing 
wild ducks, wild geese, wild swan, wild brant or other 
water fowl, under a penalty of not less than fifty dollars 
($50), nor more than one hundred dollars ($100) for 
each offense, and the possession or sale or disposition by 
any person of any such big or swivel gun in this State 
shall be deemed prima facie evidence that the same is 
possessed or sold, or disposed of with the intent, and for 
the purpose of shooting at or killing such birds in this 
State, and every gun shall be deemed a big gun, for the 
purpose of this law, which is not habitually raised at* 
arm's length and fired from the shoulder. (See Section 18.) 

32. Frightening Game. No person shall at any time in 
this State shoot at or do any act or thing whatsoever with 
the intent or purpose of frightening wild ducks, wild 
geese, wild swan, wild brant or other water fowl of any 
kind from their feeding or roosting grounds, under a pen- 
alty of not less than twenty-five dollars ($25), nor more 
than one hundred dollars ($100) for each offense. 

33. Ferret Not to Be Used. No person shall in this 
State, at any time, use any ferret or weasel for the pur- 
pose of hunting, capturing or killing any of the aforesaid 
game animals, under a penalty of not less than ten dollars 
($10), nor more than twenty-five dollars ($25) for each 
offense, and under a further penalty of ten dollars ($10) 
for each such game animal so captured or killed. 



106 

34. Destroying Nests or Eggs. No person shall in 
this State, at any time molest or destroy the nests or eggs 
of any of the aforesaid birds, except those of hawks or 
other birds destructive to domestic poultry and game birds, 
or those of English sparrows, crows and blackbirds, under 
a penalty of not less than one nor more than twenty-five 
dollars ($25) for each offense. (See Section 28-E.) 

35. Poisoning Poultry. No person shall kill or in- 
jure by poison any domestic poultry or any golden English 
or Mongolian pheasants, or any of the aforesaid game 
birds not the property of said person, but upon the prem- 
ises of and belonging to some one else, under a penalty 
of not less than ten dollars ($10), nor more than three 
hundred dollars ($300). 

36. Trapping Quail. No person shall trap, net or en- 
snare any, partridge or quail, pheasant or ruffled grouse, 
wild turkey, woodcock or water fowl of any kind, or have 
in possession any trap, net or snare with the intent or 
purpose to capture or kill any such birds under a penalty 
of ten dollars ($10) for every such bird so trapped, killed, 
netted or ensnared, and under a further penalty of fifty 
dollars ($50) for the having in possession any such trap, 
net or snare, and every such trap, net or snare shall be 
forfeited and destroyed. 

38. Jurisdiction, J. P.'s. The justices of the peace of 
this State in and for the city or county wherein the offense 
shall be committed shall have jurisdiction to hear and de- 
termine all prosecutions for the purpose of enforcing fines 
and penalties, collectible under the provisions of this sub- 
title, and all such fines and penalties are expressly made 
subject to the provisions of Section 51 of this article, and 
in all cases where such prosecutions are begun or instituted 
by any person other than the State Game Warden or one 
of the deputy game wardens of this State, and shall result 
in the collection of a fine or fines, then one-half of fine 
or fines, after the proper court costs or costs of the jus- 
tice of the peace in the trial and decision of the case 
shall have been paid, shall be paid to the informer, and 
the other half to the school fund of the city or county in 
which said prosecution is conducted. 



107 

40. Bag Limit. It shall be unlawful for one person to 
kill more than twelve partridges (quail) in any one day, 
or more than two ruffed grouse in any one day, or more 
than three English pheasants in any one day, or more than 
fifty rail in any one day, or more than fifty reedbirds in 
any one day, or more than twelve doves in any one day, or 
more tha» six woodcock in any one day, or more than 
ten rabbits in any one day, or more than ten squirrels in 
any one day, or more than ten jacksnipe in any one day, 
or more than 25 wild water fowl (ducks, geese, swan and 
brant) in any one day for each man on or connected with 
the outfit, not exceeding four men in number, each of 
whom shall have a gunner's license, or more than 15 
yellow-legs in any one day, or more than five blackbreasted 
plover in any one day, or more than ten coots (crow bills) 
and gallinules in all in any one day, or more than four wild 
turkeys in any one season, or more than one deer per season, 
during the times when it shall be lawful to shoot such birds 
and animals. (Penalty is provided in Code). 

Chapter 545 of Act 1916, which re-enacts Section 40 so 
as to read as above stated, further provides "that all laws 
or parts of laws, either local or general, inconsistent here- 
with, are hereby repealed, and that this act shall take 
effect from the first of June, 1916." 

41. Penalties. Any person violating the provisions' of 
the preceding section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and 
upon conviction thereof shall be fined in the sum of five 
dollars for each and every partridge, pheasant, or ruffed 
grouse, English pheasant, dove, woodcock, jacksnipe, rab- 
bit or squirrel, and the sum of fifty dollars for each wild 
turkey, and one hundred dollars for each deer so killed in 
excess of the limits herein mentioned, and shall stand com- 
mitted to the county jail, if said fine is not paid, for one 
day for each dollar of fine imposed, but not for a period of 
more than sixty days; any deputy game warden or con- 
stable or informer who shall procure a conviction under 
this and the preceding section shall be entitled to the half 
fine recovered, and remaining half shall be paid over to 



108 

the State Treasurer to the account of the State game pro- 
tection fund, to be used by the State Game Warden as may 
be provided by law. 

42. Baltimore Oriole. No person in this State shall 
shoot or in any manner catch, kill or have in possession any 
bird of the species known as the "Baltimore Oriole 
Icterus," or molest or destroy the eggs or nests of the said 
birds in the said State. (See Section 28-C.) 

43. Penalties. (Text omitted, see Code.) 

GAME WARDEN AND DEPUTIES. 

[Text of Section 44 and succeeding sections bas been somewbat modi- 
fied so as to comport with the act creating the Conservation Commission 
of Maryland (supra, pp. 6-7) which places the State Game Warden on 
the staff of the Commission and prescribes that the State Game Warden 
and the Deputy Game Wardens shall be appointed by the Commission.] 

44. Game Warden. The Conservation Commission 
shall appoint a game warden for the State whose term of 
office shall be for two years or until his successor be ap- 
pointed. The said game warden shall receive a salary 
from the State for his services of twelve hundred dollars 
per annum, and shall be entitled to an expense account for 
actual traveling expenses, and other expenses incurred in 
the discharge of his duties, to an amount not to exceed in 
any one year the sum of six hundred dollars, and shall re- 
ceive a portion of the fines arising from the violation of 
the game and fish laws when the offenders shall be prose- 
cuted by said game warden, or his deputy game wardens, 
as hereinafter provided. The said game warden may be 
removed by the Conservation Commission at any time upon 
proof satisfactory to them that said game warden is not 
vigorously enforcing the game or fish laws of this State, 
or is not a fit person for said position. The word ' ' game ' ' 
shall be taken to embrace .deer, wild turkey, pinnated 
grouse, ruffed grouse, known as "pheasants," Mongolian 
or English pheasants, woodcock, partridges or quail, rab- 
bits, squirrels, ducks, geese and all other species of wild 
fowl. 



109 

45. Duties ; G-ame Warden and Deputies. It shall be 
the duty of the said game warden and his deputy game 
wardens to prosecute all persons and corporations having 
in their possession any game or fish contrary to either the 
general or local game or fish laws of this State. It shall 
also be their duty to see that the game and fish laws are 
enforced and obtain information as to all violations of the 
said game and fish laws. 

46. Appointment ; Deputy Game Wardens. Whenever 
the game warden considers that it is necessary that he 
should have deputy game wardens appointed to assist him 
in more efficiently enforcing the game and fish laws of this 
State, he may apply to the Conservation Commission to 
commission such persons as it may designate to act as 
deputy game wardens in the counties and cities of the 
State, to enforce the game and fish laws of this State, and 
carry out all the provisions of this sub-title; such persons 
may be appointed for the whole State or for such counties 
or cities as the Game Warden shall designate. If the Con- 
servation Commission approve such persons, it may ap- 
point them deputy game wardens ; such deputy game war- 
dens shall not receive a salary from the State, cities or 
counties, but shall be paid such compensation out of the 
fines collected or otherwise, as the game warden may agree 
with them. 

47. Commissions. The Conservation Commission shall 
issue to each person so appointed as deputy game war- 
den a commission, and transmit such commission to the 
clerk's office of the circuit court for the county in which 
the deputy game warden so appointed has his legal resi- 
dence, or to the office of the clerk of the Superior Court of 
Baltimore City, if residing in Baltimore City, and they 
may revoke and annul any such appointment at their 
pleasure. 

48. Oath and Authority. The game warden for the 
State and every deputy game warden shall, before entering 
upon the duties of his office, take and subscribe before the 
clerk of the circuit court of the county of which he is a 
resident, or if a resident of Baltimore City, before the 
clerk of the Superior Court of Baltimore City, the oath or 



110 

affirmation prescribed by the sixth section of the first arti- 
cle of the Constitution of this State, which oath or affirma- 
tion shall be recorded in the clerk's office of such county or 
city. The game warden throughout the State, and also 
every deputy game warden so appointed, after the record- 
ing of the oath or affirmation to be by said game warden 
or deputy game warden taken as aforesaid, shall, in the 
county, counties, city or cities for which such deputy game 
warden may be appointed, possess and exercise all the au- 
thority and powers held or exercised by constables at com- 
mon law and under the statutes of this State, and also all 
authorities and powers conferred by law upon policemen 
in the City of Baltimore or other cities of the State, as far 
as arresting and prosecuting the persons for violating any 
of the fish and game laws of this State are concerned ; and 
they are hereby vested with additional powers to arrest 
without warrants persons suspected or known to be guilty 
of violating any of the provisions of the game and fish laws 
of this State, and to forthwith take any and all such per- 
sons before the nearest justice of the peace to be dealt with 
in accordance with the provisions of the game and fish 
laws of the State. In the event of finding game or fish 
taken or had in possession contrary to the provisions of 
any of the game or fish laws of this State, upon the persons 
so dealt with, they shall proceed in the manner prescribed 
in Sections 52, 53, 54 and 55. The clerk shall only charge 
fifty cents for recording such oath or affirmation. 

49. Badges. The game warden and deputy game war- 
den shall, when acting in his official capacity, except when 
on detective duty, wear in plain view a metallic shield with 
the words ' * Game Warden ' ' or Deputy Game Warden, ' ' as 
the case may be, inscribed thereon. The metallic shield or 
badge provided for in this section is hereby declared to be 
the property of the State, and upon the termination of the 
commission of any deputy game warden as provided for 
by Section 50, it shall be the duty of said deputy game 
warden to forthwith return to the State Game Warden the 
said shield or badge and also transmit to him for cancella- 
tion and return to the executive department his revoked 
commission. In case of the failure of said deputy game 



Ill 

warden to comply with the provisions of this section, by 
returning immediately to the game warden his badge and 
commission after notice as provided by Section 50, he 
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon con- 
viction shall be fined five dollars and costs by any justice 
of the peace of the county or city in which he resides, the 
said fine to be payable to the game warden. 

50. Dismissal of Deputies. Whenever the services of 
any deputy game warden shall no longer be required by 
the game warden, the game warden shall give a notice in 
writing to the effect to said deputy game warden and shall 
file the same in the office of the clerk where the oath of 
office of such deputy game warden shall be recorded, which 
notice shall be noted by the clerk upon the margin of the 
record where such oath or affirmation is recorded, and 
thereafter the power of this deputy game warden shall 
cease and determine, and a copy of such notice shall be 
immediately served on such deputy game warden by the 
game warden and such service shall be by registered letter 
through the United States mails or by the sheriff of the 
county in which the commission of the said deputy game 
warden so removed shall be recorded. 

51. Disposition of Fines. In all cases in which pros- 
ecutions for violations of any of the general or local game 
or fish laws of this State shall be instituted by the game 
warden or any deputy game warden and shall result in 
the collection of a fine or fines, after the proper court 
costs or costs of the justice of the peace in convicting such 
offenders shall have been paid, shall be paid to the game 
warden as his compensation. And all public and local 
game and fish laws heretofore enacted are hereby so 
amended as to make the fines therein provided payable to 
the game warden according to the terms of this section. 
This section shall not prevent the collection of any portion 
of such fines given by law to the informer by any person 
not a game warden or deputy game warden procuring the 
conviction of any person violating the game and fish laws. 

52. Search Warrants. If the game warden or any 
deputy game warden or police officer or other person has 



112 

reason to believe that any person or corporation has in his 
or its possession, contrary to law, any bird, game as de- 
fined by Section 44, or fish, it shall be the duty of the 
game warden, or such deputy game warden or such police 
officer, and the lawful privilege of such other person, to 
go before any justice of the peace in the county or city 
in which the bird, game or fish may be, and make affidavit 
of that fact; said justice shall thereupon issue a search 
warrant against the person or corporation so complained 
of, directed to any constable of the said county or city, 
commanding him to proceed at once and search for said 
bird, game or fish and, upon finding the same, to seize 
and take possession of the same and keep it until further 
order by the justice. The said constable shall read said 
warrant to the owner or person in whose possession said 
bird, game or fish is supposed to be. Said warrant shall 
be returnable within not less than twelve hours nor more 
than twenty-four hours from the date thereof. Provided, 
that the game warden, or any deputy game warden, or 
other police officer may also without a warrant search any 
boat, car, box, locker, crate, or package, and any building, 
where he has reason to believe any bird, game or fish held 
in violation of law is to be found, and may seize any bird, 
game or fish so taken or held, and any bird, game or fish so 
taken or held, shall be disposed of by the game warden as 
he may deem advisable for the best interests of the State; 
provided, however, that this section shall not authorize en- 
tering a dwelling house, or apply to birds, game or fish 
which are passing through this State under authority of the 
laws of the United States. 

53. Trials; Appeal. At the time mentioned in said 
warrant, said justice shall proceed to hear and determine 
whether said game or fish was in the possession of the per- 
son or corporation contrary to law; and if the said justice 
shall find that said game or fish was in the possession of the 
defendant contrary to law, then said justice shall enter 
judgment against the defendant and order sale of the game 
or fish so seized; but if the said justice shall find that the 
possession of such game or fish was not contrary to law 
then the judgment shall be that the same be returned to the 



113 

person or corporation from whom the same was taken. An 
appeal to the circuit court for the county, or the Baltimore 
City Court, as the case may be, may be taken within two 
hours by the defendant from the judgment of the justice 
upon giving sufficient bond to cover the cost of the appeal 
and the value of the game or fish seized, to be determined 
by the justice. 

54-5. Sale of Game or Fish Condemned; Notice Re- 
quired ; Disposition of Proceeds. (Text omitted, see Code.) 

56. Immunity. The game warden and the deputy game 
wardens and any other officers shall not be liable for any 
damage or costs sustained by any person or corporation by 
reason of the wrongful seizure of game, wild life or fish 
under this sub-title; provided, however, that the enforce- 
ment of this sub-title shall in nowise prevent prosecution 
of persons or corporations for violations of the game, wild 
life or fish laws of this State. 

57. Assistance. Whenever the game warden shall re- 
quire the assistance of the State Fishery Force he shall 
so advise the Conservation Commission, and if such request 
be approved, it shall instruct the Commander of the State 
Fishery Force to forthwith assist the game warden in the 
enforcement of the game and fish laws of the State. And 
whenever the game warden or the deputy game wardens 
shall require the advice and assistance of the State's At- 
torney and sheriffs of the several counties of the State or 
of Baltimore City, it shall be the duty of said officers to 
render the required assistance as in other State cases. 

58. Otter, Raccoon, Muskrat. It shall be unlawful 
for any person to trap, catch or kill any otter, raccoon or 
muskrat within this State, or have the same in his pos- 
session, if trapped, caught or killed within this State, be- 
tween the first day of April and the first day of January 
in each year. 

59. Penalties; Counties Excepted. (Text omitted, 
see Code.) 



114 

60-68. Patuxent and Tributaries. Non-Kesidents 
of State Must Procure Gunner's License; Penalties; 
Boatman's License to Convey Gunners. Seasons; Gun 
Clubs, Etc. (Text omitted, see Code.) 

69-71. Elk and Deer, Preserve for; License; Per- 
sonal Property. Closed Season for Six Years from 
June 1, 1916. (Text omitted, see Code, and Act 1916, 
Chapter 399.) 

72. Export of Game Prohibited. It shall be unlawful 
to export or ship out from the limits of the State 
of Maryland any wild game, water fowls excepted; 
and it shall also be unlawful for any express Com- 
pany or any common carrier, to knowingly accept 
any game, water fowl excepted, for shipment without 
the State. Provided, however, that any hunter who has 
obtained the necessary license to hunt within the State of 
Maryland, or any county thereof, shall be permitted to 
carry out with him as personal baggage, for own use and 
not for purpose of selling same, an amount of game killed 
by himself equal to one day's bag limit, upon exhibiting 
his license, if so required. Any game shipped to points 
within the limits of the State shall be plainly and conspicu- 
ously marked as game. 

Any person or corporation violating the provisions of 
this section shall be liable to a fine of not less than twenty- 
five nor more than one hundred dollars for each and every 
offense, upon conviction before any justice of the peace of 
the State. 

COUNTY GUNNING LICENSES. 

By various local laws, including those passed in 1916, 
the following gunning licenses are required in the respec- 
tive counties. These licenses are to be issued by the Clerks 
of the County Courts. The amounts given include the 
Clerk's fee for issuing the license. 

Allegany: resident of Allegany, Garrett or Washington 
Counties, $1.00; resident of State outside said counties, 
$3.00 ; non-resident of State, $5.00. Anne Arundel County : 



115 

resident or taxpayer of eounty, $1.20; non-resident of 
county, $5.20. Baltimore: resident of county, $1.20; resi- 
dent of State outside county, $5.20 ; non-resident of State, 
$10.20. Calvert: non-resident of State, $10.50. Caroline: 
non-resident of county, $5.25. Carroll: non-resident of 
State, $10.50. Cecil: non-resident of county, $10.00. 
Charles: non-resident of State, $5.50. Dorchester: resi- 
dent or taxpayer of county, $1.00 ; resident of State 
outside county, $5.00 ; non-resident of State, $10.00. Fred- 
erick : non-resident of county, $15.50. Garrett : non-resident 
of county, $10.50. Harford : resident of county, $1.15 ; non- 
resident of county, $5.15. Howard : resident of State out- 
side county, $5.50; non-resident of State, $20.50. Kent: 
non-resident of county, $15.50 (if invited by land owner, 
$5.50). Montgomery: non-resident of county, $15.50; Pat- 
uxent River, non-resident of State, $11.00 (club license, $25.) . 
Prince George: non-resident of county, $20.50. Queen 
Anne's: non-resident of county, $5.00 (sink box, $10.50). 
St. Mary's: non-resident of State, $20.50. Somerset: resi- 
dent of State, $2.75 ; non-resident of State, $10.50. Talbot : 
non-resident of county, $10.00. Washington: resident of 
county, 50 cents ; non-resident of county, $10. Wicomico : 
non-resident of State, $10.50. Worcester (wild fowl) : 
non-resident of State, $10.00. 

Guests of land owners require no licenses, except in 
Allegany, Baltimore, Caroline, Cecil, Charles, Dorchester, 
Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Kent, Talbot, Washington 
and Worcester Counties. 

In several counties special resident licenses are required 
as follows: Anne Arundel — pusher, $2.00; booby and 
brush blind, $5.00. Cecil — Elk and Bohemia Rivers, sneak 
boat, $5.50; sink box, $10.50. Queen Anne — booby blind, 
$2.50. Susquehanna Flats — sneak boat, $5.75 ; sink box, 
$20.75. Harford— sneak boat, $5.75 ; sink box, $20.75. Pat- 
uxent River — pusher license, $2.50. South River — booby 
blind, $2.50. 



116 

LIST OF OPEN SEASONS FOR STATE. 

Birds 1 — Partridge 2 , Quail 2 , Pheasant 3 , 

Grouse 3 , Turkey 3 , and Woodcock . . Nov. 10-Dec. 24. 

Doves 4 Aug. 15-Dec. 24. 

Snipe and Plover Aug. 15-May 1. 

Reedbird,Railbird,Ricebird, Ortolan. Sept. 1-Nov. 1. 
Game 1 — Rabbit Nov. 10-Dec. 24. 

G • 15 jAug. 25-Oct. 1. 

Squirrel- ] Nov 10 . Dec> 2 4. 

Raccoon, Otter and Muskrat Jan. 1-Apr. 1. 

m . , « i Closed until 

Elk and Deer } June ^ 1922 

Wild Fowl 6 - 7 — 

Duck, Goose, Swan and Brant Nov. 1-Mar. 15. 



iShooting birds or game prohibited on Sundays or between sunset and 
sunrise, except as stated in Note 7. 

2Partridge and Quail not to be killed in Frederick County until No- 
vember 10, 1021. 

aKilling Wild Turkey, Pheasants and Grouse prohibited in Harford 
County. 

4By Act, 1016, (Sec 28-B, p. 102), Doves can lawfully be killed in Tal- 
bot County only. Elsewhere Doves are "non-game" birds, which, by 
Sec. 28-C of said Act, cannot be killed. 

oAnne Arundel, Calvert, Charles, Dorchester, Prince George's, St. 
Mary's and Talbot Counties excepted. In Cecil and Frederick 
Counties open season for Squirrels runs continuously from August 25 
to December 24. 

6Federal law fixes open season for all wild fowl from November 1- 
January 31 inclusive. 

7ln Cecil and Harford Counties wild fowl may lawfully be killed only 
on Mondays, Wednedays and Fridays from November 1 to January 1 
and on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from January 1 
to end of season. All days to be reckoned from one hour before sun- 
rise until sunset. 



INDEX. 



Page. 

Bag Limit 107, 114 

Baltimore Oriole 108 

Barren Bottoms (See "Oyster Culture"). 

Birds and Game (See "Seasons") 92-116 

Possession in closed season prohibited 101 

What are game birds 102 

What are non-game birds 102 

Killing non-game birds prohibited 102 

Destruction bird eggs and nests prohibited 102, 106 

Bird plumage not to be sold in State 102 

Taking birds for scientific purposes 103 

Certificates required 103 

Certain birds not protected 103 

Night gunning prohibited 104 

Swivel gun prohibited 105 

Frightening game prohibited 105 

Ferret not to be used 105 

Trapping quail prohibited 105 

Poisoning poultry prohibited 106 

Bag limit 107 

Size and kind of gun 98, 104-5 

Export of game prohibited 114 

Blinds, limits of 92 

Boundary Line, Maryland- Virginia 63 

Buoys, marking Oyster lots 48, 50 

State 41^51 

Clams (Somerset County) 87-9 

Licenses required 87-8 

Shipping regulations 88 

Commander of State Fishery Force (See "State Fish- 
ery Force ") q 

Concurrent Law, Potomac River 58-63 

Rights of citizens of two States 58 

Season for oysters 58 

Culling oysters 59 

Seed oysters 59-60 



118 

Fish and crabs 61-2 

Size of mesh 62 

Other fishing regulations 69-74 

Conservation Commission, act creating 5-9 

Commissioners 5 

Staff officers 6 

Duties and powers 7-9 

Funds under its control 8 

Annual reports 9 

Conservation Fund, moneys included 8 

County Gunning Licenses 114-5 

Crabs 84-6 

Closed season 84 

Female protected 85 

Licenses for catching 84 

Licenses for packing and shipping 85 

Somerset County Crab Law 86 

Potomac River 62 

Crab Scraping Areas 44 

Craighill Channel, dredging prohibited 29 

Culling Oysters 13-17 

To be done on bed where taken 13, 59 

Standard size 13 

Undersized oysters 14 

Shipment out of State prohibited 14 

Inspection required before sale 15 

Vessel to remain at wharf until inspection com- 
pleted 16 

Evasion of inspection 16 

Potomac River 59 

Deputy Commanders (See "State Fishery Force"). 

Dredging Oysters 19-24 

Steam or power prohibited 19 

Licenses 19, 21 

Disposition of fees 21 

Waters exempted 19-20 

Firearms prohibited 22 

Unlicensed vessels 20 

Penalties and forfeitures 22 

Arrests 22 



119 

Painted numbers 23 

Lessee may dredge 49 

Engineer, salary and duties 6 

Exporting Game 114 

Fish and Fisheries 64-83 

Susquehanna Flats 97 

Head of Bay 64, 82 

Chesapeake Bay 79, 81 

Patapsco River 66 

Severn River 66 

Patuxent River 66-69 

Potomac 61, 69-73 

Rivers in Talbot, Dorchester and Caroline 73 

Rivers in Queen Anne 's and Kent Counties .... 73-4 

Licenses required 61, 64, 72, 79, 80 

Poisoning fish 75 

Size of fish 76 

Obstructing streams 76 

Fish ladders 77 

Explosives prohibited 77 

Artificial ponds protected 75 

Sale of fish 78 

Threshing fish prohibited 83 

Fisheries protected 65 

Game defined (See "Birds and Game") 108 

Game Wardens and Deputies 108-114 

Appointment 108-9 

Duties 109-10 

Commissions 109 

Badges 110 

Dismissal Ill 

Search warrants 111-2 

Gun, size and kind 98, 104-5 

Gunning Licenses in Counties 114-5 

Inspection Tax on Maryland Oysters 32 

Tax on oysters caught without State 33 

Enforcement of tax 32 

Sworn weekly reports required 34 



120 

Inspectors of Oysters (See "Culling Oysters") 30-37 

To be appointed by Commission 8, 30 

General Inspectors 30 

Special Inspectors 31 

Bond required 31 

Duties and powers 17, 31, 34 

Salaries 31, 35 

Dismissal 17 

Licensed Measurers 35 

License blanks to be furnished by Comptroller, 

11, 39, 72, 81, 88 

Licenses for Clams 87 

Crabs 84-5 

Fish 64, 72, 79, 80 

Fish and Crabs in Potomac 61-2, 72 

Oysters, Tonging 10 

Dredging 19,21 

Scraping 21 

Reserved areas 52, 55 

Commission Merchants 38 

Packers' 37,85 

Shippers' 85, 87 

Shooting in Counties 114-5 

Natural Bars or Beds (See "Oyster Culture"). 

Offices abolished 7 

Oysters (See "Culling," "Dredging," "Tonging," 
1 ' Inspectors ' ' and other titles) . 

Oyster Commission Merchants 38 

Licenses required 38 

Oyster Culture 40-51 

Natural bars excluded 40 

Definition, natural bars 40 

Surveys, natural bars 41 

Re-surveys 42 

Neutral zones 42 

Leases, terms, acreage 44 

Application for lease 45 

Advertisement, fees, etc 45-6 



121 

Protests and trials 46 

Rights of lessee 47 

Marking leased lot 47 

Title to oysters 48 

Assignment of leases 48 

Seed oysters 49 

Planting on barren bottoms not leased prohibited 51 

Condemnation of leases 43 

Oyster Gallon Cup 38 

Oyster Navy (See "State Fishery Force"). 

Oyster Packers 37 

Licenses required 38 

Sworn weekly reports 34 

Payment inspection tax 32 

Enforcement of tax 32 

* Penalties 37 

Oyster Tubs 36-7 

Patapsco, fish ladders 66 

Patuxent River 30, 66-9 

Season for oysters 30 

Regulations for catching oysters 30 

Regulations for catching fish 66 

Seine hauling 66, 67 

Size of mesh 66, 67 

Purse nets prohibited 69 

Obstructions to fishery 67, 68 

Licenses 114 

Potomac River (See "Concurrent Law") . .30, 58-63, 69-73 

Shad and herring, season and licenses 69, 72 

Seine hauling 70 

Catching bass 70 

Obstructing fisheries 71 

Further regulations 73 

Poultry poisoning prohibited 106 

Purse Nets, northern limit 64 

License required 64 

Size of mesh 65 

Reserved Areas 7, 52-7 

Duties and powers of Commission 7 



122 

What areas may be reserved 52 

Planting seed oysters 52 

Certificate 53 

Catching oysters on reserved areas 54 

Conditions and restrictions 54-6 

Special tax to be paid 54 

Protection, reserved areas 56 

Search Warrants 111-2 

Seasons for Birds and Game — 

Doves 100 

Deer and elk 99, 114 

Muskrat 113 

Otter 113 

Partridge or quail 99 

Pheasants 99 

Plover 101 

Raccoon 113 

Rabbit 99 

Reedbird and railbird 101 

Snipe 101 

Squirrel 99 

Wild turkey 99 

Woodcock 99 

Season for Crabs 84 

Seasons for Fish — 

Catfish and eels 79 

Sturgeon 79 

Shad and herring in Bay 64 

In Potomac River 69, 72 

Bass, pickerel or pike 76 

Bass in Potomac River 70, 71 

Trout 74 

Seasons for Oysters 17 

Tonging or scraping 10, 17 

Dredging *. 20 

Catching oysters on Sunday or at night pro- 
hibited 18 

Choptank River 30 

Patuxent River 30 

Potomac River 20, 58 



123 

Planted oysters 50 

Seed oysters 49, 52 

Season for Terrapin 90-1 

Seasons for Wild Fowl 97 

Brant 97 

Duck 97 

Goose 97 

Swan 97 

Seasons for State listed 116 

Seed Oysters 49 

From upper Bay 52 

From Potomac River 59, 60 

Shipment out of State prohibited 14, 60 

Obtention by lessee 49 

Severn River Fishing 66 

Size, Minimum,, for Clams 88 

Crabs 86 

Fish 76, 77-78 

Oysters 13 

Terrapin 90 

Size or kind of gun 98, 104-5 

State Game Warden (See "Game Warden and Deputies"). 
State Game Protection Fund 8, 95, 99, 100, 103, 108 

State Fishery Force 24 

Under control of Commission 6 

Vessels to be used only on official or State business 26 

Repairs and additions 10 

Arms and ammunition 9, 24 

Districts 24-5 

Commander and Deputies 6, 25 

Duties 26-29, 81, 84 

Oath and bond 27 

Salaries and rations 27-8 

To remain on boats at all times 28-9 

Terrapin 90-1 

Closed season 90 

Eggs 90 

Who may catch 90 

Tonging Oysters 10-13 

License required 10 






124 

Contents of licenses 10-11 

Disposition of fees 11 

Oath required 11 

Issuance and expiration of licenses 11-12 

Penalties 12 

Devices permitted 12-13 

Virginia (See "Concurrent Law," see "Boundary Line"). 

Wild Fowl (See "Seasons") 92-116 

Shooting in flocks 92 

Feeding grounds 92 

Blinds 92 

Arrests 92 

Trial 93 

Shooting from boat 94 

Sunday shooting prohibited 97 

Night shooting prohibited 98 

Size of gun 98 



THOMAS ft EVANS PRINTING CO 
BALTIMORE. MD. 



